


You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 1

by Firewhisperer13



Series: The Umbrella Academy Series [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ballet, Eating Disorders, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Season/Series 01, Series, Siblings, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 82,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firewhisperer13/pseuds/Firewhisperer13
Summary: Following the death of her father, Mina Hargreeves returns home, reuniting with her siblings for the first time in ages. From the moment they're back under the same roof, things seem off, and the re-appearance of a missing sibling sparks a series of events in motion that leads to the Hargreeves attempting to stop the end of the world. All Rights Reserved, Netflix 2019-present
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy) & Original Female Character(s), The Hargreeves Family, Vanya Hargreeves & The Hargreeves
Series: The Umbrella Academy Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636681
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	1. Number Four

**Author's Note:**

> Volume 1: Reconciliation for the Armageddon

**_To address the numbering, because of how Mina plays in, she is Number Four. 1-3 are the same, as is 5. 6 is now Klaus, 7 is Ben, and 8 is Vanya This is about to confuse the hell out of me..._ **

**_Also, just as a heads up, there's about to be a lot of ballet terminology in this story. If you need any sort of reference, here's a dictionary of literally every ballet term to explain most of the moves I'll be using in this story_ **

**_[learntodance.com/online-ballet-dance-lessons/](http://learntodance.com/online-ballet-dance-lessons/) _ **

**_\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

_On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual, only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible._

_He got eight of them._

**Number Four: Mina**

I pushed my feet over their arches, sliding my toes further into the gel pads buried deep into the boxes. Thank God for whoever invented these cushions, otherwise pointe shoes would immediately spell death to the feet of whoever dared to dance. Of course, there had been a time when women danced without them, somehow-- most likely magic. Carefully maneuvering around my fellow dancers, I reached for a wall and began to do some simple relèves to warm up my feet; get the blood flowing, so there'd be less pain in the coming minutes. I kept bouncing up and down, changing which foot touched down in front while making sure my back stayed completely straight, an artificial, red-lipped smile painted onto my face.

My foot exercises persisted until a group of five dancers, donned in shimmering white bodices and tutus, passed by, giggling and whispering among themselves. Their joyful musings fell silent as they passed by me, replaced with not-so-subtle glares and scoffs. However, I couldn't pause and let that get to me, as those girls were my cue to go backstage. I moved from the crowded hallway to the dark, narrow wings. Several other dancers walked through their steps, marking everything to make sure they wouldn't look a fool onstage. Although everyone chose to mind their own business, the looks in their eyes shimmered with the secret hope that the person in their desired role would fall,

The audience's wave of applause snapped me out of my mental trance, urging me onto the stage. I waited for the woman before me to completely vacate the space, then took delicate steps to the dead center, right where anyone could scrutinize me. The moment the music started, I began to flow through my movements, the choreography burned into my mind and muscles since rehearsals had started. I'd been getting better roles as of late, and in order to keep it like that, I needed to memorize my choreography quickly. And, of course, I couldn't mess up. That certainly would knock me down to the bottom.

I began my set of turns, attempting to ignore the tingling beginning to surge through my arms. Now certainly wasn't the time for this, even though this was exactly what fueled the sensation. I couldn't let this get to me, and I couldn't do anything to stop it without misstepping so I just had to keep going and be extremely careful with my arm movements

Delicately, I moved into a pique arabesque, holding the pose for a moment before lowering my supporting foot and dipping down into a ponche, allowing my legs to form 180 degrees before coming back up. A couple more pirouettes, a held attitude, three balancés en croix, and one last assembé, and I could finally move to my curtsy.

The moment I disappeared back into the wings, I flicked my wrists, causing the burning sensation to completely dissipate. My directors gently tapped me, congratulating me on a job well done, and I headed back to the dressing room, preparing to relax a bit before curtain call. However, when I pushed open the white door, all the other ballerina's eyes turned to me, expressions raging from concern to sympathy. I raised an eyebrow, confused as to why they even were giving me the time of day. Normally, they'd only do that if someone fell or messed up, and even then, they usually weren't good about hiding their joy. One of the smaller ensemble members, Cassidy, carefully approached me and placed a cold hand on my arm.

"Mina..." she whispered. "I'm so sorry." I shook my head at her.

"Cassidy, what are you talking about? Everything went fine on stage." Another soloist, Amelia, came up and smacked Cassidy's elbow.

"Tch," she hissed. "Mina's been on stage, she doesn't know." I removed my arm from Cassidy's grip.

"I don't know what?" Amelia pointed toward the television screen we had in the dressing room. Normally, it just played footage of what was happening on stage, but now, it had been turned to a random news channel.

It took me a second to read the words on the blue banner running across the bottom of the screen, but as soon as I registered the story they were telling, my arms fell limp, and all the thoughts in my mind flew out. I was aware people around me were still staring, but I couldn't bring myself to care. How... how could this have happened...? My father... the last time I had seen him, he seemed fine. Granted, that was around twelve years ago, but not much could have changed in that time. So how...?

"Hey, Mina." I jumped and turned my head toward Cassidy. "It's, uh, it's time for finale."

"Oh, uh... thanks."

My movements during finale felt robotic and forced, nothing like what I had done earlier. At this point, everyone knew about the death of my father, so I was sure nobody expected me to do the absolute best, but I still had to try. I couldn't give the competitive girls the satisfaction of my insufficient performance. I manage to put on a smile for my bow, holding out my hands in their position until the curtains closed on us. After waiting a few seconds, everyone began talking and whispering among themselves, my name coming up several times. I, on the other hand, was still trying to wrap my head around all of this, all of what happened. I hadn't talked to anyone from home in a long time, maybe I should give them a call.

"Mina?" My directors beckoned me over. I think this was the first time I saw expressions on their faces other than judgement. "We heard about your loss. We're so sorry." I nodded, swallowing hard and looking down at my feet. "If you need some time off, we'd be happy to give it to you." Although I tried not to show it, I began to panic. I couldn't do that, I couldn't lose. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to at least go with what they were offering me... for now. I had no real intentions to take time off, especially for my family, but they’d be less likely to keep bothering me if I just relented for the moment.

"I'm going to call home in the morning. If I need to go, I'll be sure to call the studio and keep you updated." They nodded slowly, as though listening to a child.

I pushed past everyone and quickly gathered up my things, not allowing myself to cry until I got into my car. Had my father been the nicest man? No, absolutely not. But, at the end of the day, he made me into the person I was now, and on certain accounts, I had to thank him for that. I hadn't seen him in ages, I felt guilty I hadn't gone home and visited him earlier. Now, it was too late.

It was probably a good thing there weren't many people on the road; I couldn't keep my head about me on the drive home. I managed to stumble into my apartment, feeling the weight of everything crashing down on me. I honestly thought about heading straight to bed, when I noticed the red light on my answering machine blinking. Hesitantly, I pushed the button to play whatever messages I had.

_"You have one new message. First message:"_

The machine beeped as I slumped down in one of my chairs.

 _"Hey, Mina, it's... it's Allison."_ I straightened involuntarily. I hadn't heard that voice speak to me since I left. _"I'd assume you heard the news about Dad. If not... well, this is a hell of a way to find out something happened. Uh, anyways, I don't know what your show schedule looks like, but I think it might be good to go home, at least for an afternoon. I'm sure once Luther gets back to Earth, he'll plan something."_ She took a deep breath, her exhale shaking. _"You don't have to call me back, or show up at all. I think we'd all get it... considering it'd probably be harder for you after what you lost. But, if you can be there, that'd be great."_

My hands began to tremble. I didn't have to think about that day, that thing that happened seventeen years ago, in a long time.

_"I miss you, sis. We all do. I... I hope I can talk to you soon."_

I sat there in the silence, allowing Allison's words to fully soak in. She'd never talked to me much, but neither of us had ever been encouraged to make an effort to get close as kids. For a long while, the only thing I really focused on was dance, sacrificing genuine human connection for perfection. Then again, I was never really given a chance to mourn the lost opportunities for friendships. Besides, the older we all got, the further apart we grew, as everyone's character flaws suddenly were drawn to the surface and drove the others mad.

Although I didn't manage to actually fall asleep, closing my eyes and resting left me feeling good enough. The moment I got up, I focused on getting ready for my shows today. Since it was a Saturday, I had a matinee and then an evening show, meaning I had to be alert and attentive the entire day.

I rushed around my small apartment, sacrificing breakfast for preparation, and it wasn't until I passed by my phone that I slowed down. No doubt someone would be home and awake by now. At the very least, I could talk to Pogo or Mom and offer my condolences.

With trembling hands, I picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number, keeping myself from hanging up when the other line clicked to answer.

 _"Hello?"_ I smiled a little. That voice hadn't changed, even if the words it spoke sometimes made me want to tear my hair out.

"Hey, Luther, it's Mina." I heard him choke on the other line. "So, clearly, you're back."

 _"Uh, yeah... I-I just got back an hour ago, actually."_ I hummed in acknowledgement. _"How-How goes the dancing... thing?"_

 _"_ Dance has been going well," I chuckled. "I've got a good part in the show we're doing right now. I actually have a couple shows today, so I've got to get ready soon."

" _Oh..."_ I quickly jumped back in.

"But, uh, I wanted to call and-and ask if we're all getting together to for Dad. I mean, I'd assume we are. I guess I'm just wondering when?"

_"Well, I know it's short notice, but I was hoping tomorrow, we could have a little ceremony, if... if you can make. If not, I get--"_

"I'll be there."

 _"Oh, uh, great!"_ I heard Luther's voice perk up a little, which made me feel better. _"I guess I'll see you then."_

 _"_ Yeah, I should probably go finish getting ready. I guess I should let my directors know, and I'll see you tomorrow." I hesitated for a moment. "Take care of yourself, Luther."

 _"You too, Mina."_ That certainly wasn't our usual sign-off, but after all this time, it honestly sounded nice.

It was time to go home.


	2. A Bitter Homecoming

I pulled my car into the small space out front, lingering inside even after I'd turned the vehicle off. I knew, at the very least, that Luther was in there, which meant I'd have to face him. Sure, I wasn't as black-listed as the girl who wrote a whole expose on the family, but I left without saying goodbye to everyone. Luther and Allison both said the group would understand, but... they weren't speaking for _everyone_.

"C'mon, Mina," I whispered. "Just get out of the car and go."

When my eyes moved to the door, I flinched and snapped by gaze back down to my petrified hands. The place I had once called home shouldn't cause me such great internal conflict, but the memories that likely still roamed around inside didn't exactly make this homecoming feel welcoming.

Somehow, I mustered the mental energy to step out onto the road and make my way up to the door. I hesitated there, in front of the large glass and wood partitions between me and the source of tragedy. I debated, for a solid couple of minutes, whether I should knock or just go in. It was strange to see the Academy from this side, given that leaving was forbidden for most of our lives. Stepping out into the world and attempting to make lives for ourselves had been challenging, testing all of us in ways that proved who were the strongest siblings, and who was meant to fall.

The door creaked loudly in protest as I opened it, indicating no one had taken care of it in quite a while. I suppose when Dad got up in his years, all of Mom's attention went to taking care of him, rather than maintaining the upkeep of the house. Cleaning this place had always been a near-impossible task, and often took multiple days; too many trinkets sat on random tables and shelves that served no other purpose, the three floors held expansive, twisting hallways that just branched off into another set of rooms, and Dad would _never_ trust any of us to clean it. It always went to Mom, who had to bear the task on her own.

I hadn't expected to feel a wave of relief as I shut the door behind me. It came mixed with nostalgia as I stared at the grand staircase, remembering all the times the seven of us had raced up and down, trying to test who was the fastest. I'd never won, especially as the years went on, but being able to spend time with my siblings was enough back then. There had been tensions and rivalries, sure, but it wasn't until we grew older that genuine bitterness and hatred set in alongside the trauma, creating heavy divides that eventually pushed us all apart. I couldn't imagine what we would all say to each other, after all these years. We could only keep tabs on the famous ones, the others never bothered to reach out to anyone else. Some of us got hit with the blunt end of our childhood harder than others, and had virtually dropped off the face of the Earth. Did they even know? Would they be here?

Sighing, I made my way into the common room, where some of us would sit and read, or talk to each other. The antique couches were somehow still filled with life, and the bar was fully stocked. Best to keep some people away from there.

"Mina?"

I jumped, throwing an arm out in the direction of the noise in an attempt to strike the source. They immediately caught me by my wrist and shot me an unamused glare. I slowly relaxed, trying to push down an embarrassed blush as I looked at my brother for the first time in years.

"Oh, Jesus. Sorry, Diego-- reflex." He chuckled, looking down and releasing my arm.

"What a way to greet your brother." I scoffed, reaching out to hug him.

"Shut up. I'm happy to see you." We squeezed each other a bit, then I pushed back and stared at his choice in outfit, one of my brows flying up. "That's, uh... that's certainly a choice."

"You're all skin and bones." I felt my muscles tense as he eyed my frame, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at.

"Uh, that's just... the sort of body you get fr-from dancing seven days a week." I'm sure my stutters threw him off, but he didn't question that subject any further.

"Oh, right. How's that going?" He suddenly seemed to care a lot less, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise, given the frenzy he’d seen me in last time I danced in this house.

"Pretty well, actually. We're in the middle of show season right now, I've got a pretty good role." He nodded, removing one of his knives from the back of his suit and tossing it up in the air, waiting until the last second to catch it. "This one's paying pretty good money. Probably the most secure I've been since I left home." I felt my mouth go dry as I nodded awkwardly. "Wh-What about you? What are you up to?"

"Oh, various things. A few jobs, keeping myself alive."

"I guess the Police Academy didn't work out." He shook his head, and I reached forward, patting his upper arm a couple times. "Don't worry. I'm sure you didn't completely blow your chances. Just give it some time." We both turned our heads as the door shut in the hallway. "I'll-uh, I'll go check who that is."

"Yeah, yeah. Good idea." I started to walk out to the entrance hallway, but before I crossed the threshold, I turned back and looked him in the eyes again.

"I really am glad to see you, Diego." I saw a warm smile cross his face.

"I'm glad to see you, too, sis."

On that uplifting note, I made my way into the main hall, smiling at the woman standing in the doorway. It had been ages since I'd heard from her, but I knew what she had been up to. I always felt bad that I never reached out and offered my congratulations.

The moment she spotted me, her eyes lit up a little, and for the first time in her life, I saw a little bit of joy on her face.

"Vanya? You're actually here." I hoped she could tell I was relieved.

"Hey, Mina," she greeted, mustering up as much excitement as she could.

"Hey, sis." We both hesitated for a moment longer, then pulled each other into a tight hug. I had to reach down to her, but I didn't mind. It felt nice to just be here with her again.

"I, uh-- I've seen the banners for your show. How's that going?" I smiled at her. At least someone in the family kept up.

"Really well. I actually have one tonight, I'm heading out after the-the funeral deal." She smiled.

"That's great. I've been meaning to get tickets, come see you dance sometime." I felt something warm in my chest.

"That's... thank you, Vanya. But don't worry about paying for tickets, I can get you ones for free because you're family. Just let me know what day you want to come."

"Really?" I nodded. "Thanks."

"Oh, but of course that means you have to let me know when your next concert is, so I can come see you perform."

"I've got one next week, actually." My spirits fell slightly.

"Oh... well, definitely one during my off season. Just... keep me posted, okay?"

"Definitely."

Things were going well, until Diego crossed through the hall, spotting Vanya on his way to the stairs.

"Ah, what is she doing here?" I rolled my eyes. "You don't belong here. Not after what you did."

"You're seriously gonna do this today?" I shot back. It shocked me how Diego could go from sincere to an absolute prick, just like that. He’d never been like that when we were younger. "Way to dress for the occasion, by the way." It irked me to think he was going to wear that stupid suit to the funeral.

"At least I'm wearing black." I self-consciously looked down at my dark purple sweater, contemplating whether it had been the right choice or not. I wasn't going to be here long and had to head to my show afterwards, that was my reasoning.

"You know what, I-- maybe he's right." I could already see Vanya starting toward the door. "And I shouldn't--"

"Forget about him. I'm glad you're here," I assured her.

We stood there in an awkward silence for a while, avoiding eye contact, before I nodded at her and turned on my heel, heading back into the lounge room. I began to move around the room, stopping at a box balanced on one of the bookshelves. The top had long been lost, and inside, I spotted tickets to my show sticking out, unused and likely untouched. It was a shame they had gone to waste. I'm sure Vanya or Allison would have used them instead.

"Welcome home, Miss Mina."

I turned to see Pogo, our chimpanzee caretaker, standing in the doorway, smiling at me. I'd never thought he was unusual, until I started talking to other people. Even then, he had been a better father figure than my own dad, and made sure all us kids were properly taken care of. Smiling, I made my way over and hugged him.

"So good to see you." His eyes flicked down to my hand. "Ah, yes. The tickets for your performances." I smiled bitterly.

"Do you know, um... did he ever even consider coming?"

"Hmm..." Pogo shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of." I nodded, unsure of what I was expecting.

Slowly, I dared to lift my eyes to the portrait of a child above the fireplace. The moment my eyes connected with the ones created by oil paint, I choked on my own breath, my hand immediately flying to the pendant of the delicate chain I wore around my neck. I began to trace the pattern of the small number '5', trying to keep the tears at bay.

"How long has it been since Five disappeared?" My voice gargled.

"It's been 16 years, four months, and 14 days." My eyes widened a little as I looked to Pogo, impressed. "Your father insisted I keep track."

"Ah..." I smiled to myself as I looked to the floor, still fiddling with my necklace. "You wanna know something stupid? I always used to leave the lights on for him. I was scared he would come back, it would be late, and the house would be dark and he wouldn't be able to find us, so he'd leave again. So, every night I'd make a little snack and make sure all the lights were on."

"Oh, I remember your snacks," Pogo mused. "I'm pretty sure I stepped in half those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches." We both looked to the portrait again, as though Five were here, listening. "Your father always believed that Number Five was still out there somewhere. He never lost hope."

"And look where that got him." Pogo sighed, causing me to backtrack. "I'm sorry, Pogo. I didn't--"

"I know the loss was hardest on you, Miss Mina." I nodded.

"Yeah, I... I just miss him, that's all. Wherever he is, I hope he's okay. Maybe he'll find his way back one day." I turned to look behind me. "I'm gonna go look for some of the others, I'll back around come funeral time."

After that awkward exit, I made my way up the stairs. I found myself gravitating toward Dad's office, a place that had been forbidden in our childhood. Standing there, in the wooden threshold, it brought back unpleasant things.

_Mom slid open the door to the office, revealing Dad writing in that same journal he always did. The eight of us waited in the doorway for him to say good night to us, but he never even stopped writing for a moment. We waited for a few moments, and after nothing happened, Mom began to usher everyone away, trying to save the moment._

_"Okay! Time for bed now, kids. Come along now." Everyone turned and left, except for me. I continued to stare at my Dad, starting to feel contempt overtake me. "Come along now, Mina, your father's busy."_

_"He's_ always _busy," I snapped._

My mind was drawn back to the present by scuffling noises coming from the desk, followed by mutters from a voice I recognized. I made my way around the side of the wood structure in the center of the room.

"Klaus?" A scruffy head of hair popped up from underneath. "What are you doing in here?"

"Oh! Mina!" He slowly got up from his position on the floor, eagerly smiling at me. "Wow, is that you?" I couldn't help but smile back at him. Despite how chaotic and unorganized he could be, I loved being around him. He always kept me laughing, that was for sure. "Hey, come here." I graciously accepted his hug. "Long time. Too long. Hey, I was hoping to see you, actually, because I wanted to get your autograph, add it to my collection. I already have Allison’s." I chuckled at him, when my eyes wandered down to his wrist. He still had a white medical bracelet wrapped around it, indicating he had just come out of the place I thought would help him. Something told me it didn't work.

"Just out of rehab?"

"No, no. No, no, no, no. No. I'm done with all that," he lied. "I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone. And he is! He's dead. Yay!" He clapped his hands.

There he went again, making me laugh even in the most depressing of circumstances.

"You know how I know? Because if he were alive, not one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room. He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right?" Klaus slumped down into Dad's old chair, kicking his legs up on the desk. "Remember how he used to look at us? That scowl? Thank Christ he's not our real father so we couldn't inherit those cold, dead eyes!" I broke out into full-on laughter as he pried open his eyes with his fingers. "Ah, Number Four."

"Get out of his chair."

Klaus and I turned to see a massive figure lurking in the corner. I did a bit of a double take, trying to figure out whether or not that was the same guy I had spoken to on the phone last night. The voice matched, but the body did not look like what I remembered.

"Oh, wow, Luther! Wow, you really, uh... You really filled out over the years, huh?" I noticed movement in the doorway, and when my eyes flicked over, I spotted Allison.

It probably would be wise to give her and Luther some space.

"Klaus."

"Save the lecture. I was already leaving. You guys can talk amongst yourselves." We both started for the door, but Luther stopped Klaus before he could leave. I thought of trying to help him out for a moment, but figured it better for Luther to just let him have his moment scolding our brother.


	3. Back From the Future

I bounced my leg up and down as my eyes darted to all the faces in the room. None of us had been together in 13 years, and to be back in this exact place... it tore at a lot of poorly concealed wounds. Every now and then, I could hear the clatter of bottles being set down as Klaus whipped himself up some sort of overwhelmingly alcoholic drink, and Allison's ice cubes clinked every now and then. 

"Um... I guess we should get this thing started," Luther finally said. "So, I figured we should have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown." My eyes widened. Sundown was too late, I needed to be back to perform in a few hours. "Say a few words, just at Dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Unless he meant the desk he always sat at, I didn't know any other place.

"You know, under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever that?" We all shook our heads, completely confused.

"Will there be refreshments?" Klaus asked as he crossed the room, taking a seat next to me. I offered him a quick smile as the cushions made him bounce. "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."

"What? No. And put that out," Luther ordered. "Dad didn't allow smoking in here." Allison's eyes darted to her brother, and her brow furrowed.

"Is that my skirt?"

"What?" He looked down at the flowing, grey article of clothing. "Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathey on the bits." A couple of us chuckled, but as usual, Luther didn't want to have to deal with his brother's shit.

"Listen up. Still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?"

"Like what?" Diego sighed. Clearly, they'd already had some sort of conversation before.

"Like the way Dad died." I shook my head, allowing it to fall slightly. 

"Oh, here we go," Diego muttered.

"I don't understand," I spoke up. "I thought they said it was a heart attack."

"Yeah, according to the coroner."

"Well, wouldn't they know?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?" I was starting to get tired of this. He needed to just get to the point, or deal with it at a later time-- preferably when I'm not here

"I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

"Oh, _quelle suprise_!" Klaus spoke with liquid in his mouth, causing each of his words to come out gurgled.

"Strange how?" Allison asked, trying to get us back on track. Of course she'd pity Luther.

"He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust."

"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles." Diego got up from his chair, crossing the room to stand closer to his brother, as though he could intimidate the large man.

"No. He must have known something was going to happen." He turned his attention to Klaus, who was surviving this conversation by switching between smoking his cigarette and taking a drink. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."

I scoffed, shaking my head at how brash Luther was being. Klaus couldn't just do that; it took too much out of him.

"I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, 'Dad, could you just... stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?'" I found I was the only one laughing, but I didn't care. Klaus' sense of humor made this awkward moment feel a little better.

"Since when? That's your thing."

"I'm not in the right... frame of mind."

"You mean high?" I sighed.

"Yes! I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Not all of us need to rely on those sort of things." He shot me a glare, but all I did was shrug. He should've been used to me calling him out at this point.

"Well, sober up, this is important. Then there's the issue of the missing monocle." I leaned back further into the couch. Why was all of this necessary, especially at this moment? Unlike Luther, some of us had jobs we had to get back to, and this was doing nothing but wasting our time.

"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego muttered, exasperated.

"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge." I shifted uncomfortably as Luther connected eyes with me. I had done nothing wrong, his eye contact just made me feel like I was on trial-- it always had.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Isn't it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed Dad."

I scoffed, appalled that possibility had even crossed his mind. Sure, none of us liked Dad, most likely despised him with every fiber of our being, but never would any of us even _think_ of killing him. He had given us a home, helped us figure out what we could do, what set us apart from everyone else, and given us Mom and Pogo. Not to mention that all of us had been gone up until recently, unable to get home to do anything like that. This was exactly like him.

"You do?"

"How could you think that?" Vanya demanded.

"Great job, Luther," Diego deadpanned. "Way to lead." He aggressively brushed Luther's shoulder as he headed out of the room.

"That's not what I'm saying," he tried to defend.

"You're crazy, man. You're crazy." After Klaus stood up, I decided to take my leave of this conversation. "Crazy." Shaking my head, I got up and made my way toward the large doorways, determined to hide out in my old room until it was time for me to go.

"I'm not finished," Luther protested, as though that would magically make everyone want to listen to him.

"Sorry, I'm just gonna go murder Mom. Be right back. Be right back."

"That's not what I was saying. I didn't--"

Once I made my way into my old room, I immediately slammed the door shut, trying not to just scream. I'd lost everything to this house, and now my own brother was accusing me of taking from it, too. I didn't want to come back in the first place, but I gave my mind the benefit of the doubt; I thought that maybe I'd be able to heal and have some good laughs among my family. Instead, all I got were painful reminders and accusations thrown my way.

Frustrated, I went to my desk and fished around in my drawer, trying to find a spare pair of ballet shoes to go and practice in my studio. I'd completely cleared this place out of ballet supplies, but I found something else in there. I didn't even know I'd kept it, but the moment my eyes glossed over it, my heart rate spiked. The black mask still seemed in good condition, the pieces covering the eyes still completely opaque on one side. I hadn't worn this thing in ages, and I'd hoped to forget about it entirely.

_"You ready?" I smirked at the boy next to me, extending my fist out to him. Five's expression matched mine as he returned the gesture. "You guys just need to give me enough time to charge, then I can take, like, three of these guys out."_

_"You say that like it'll be hard." I crossed my arms._

_"Five..." I'd already talked to him about him getting cocky before, and now was not the time for a recap._

_"Sorry, sis."_

_"Just go out there and get them."_

_Five nodded at me, then the air around him took on a wavy quality, and he disappeared into the heat of the fight. We'd been tasked with rescuing hostages from a bank, our first ever mission. We'd trained for ages, sure, but we'd never actually tested our powers in action. I took a deep breath, attempting to focus, then started to fouetté, getting faster and faster until the tingles in my arms turned into strong surges. I'd charged up my powers enough, but I just needed to keep them as I made an entrance. I prepped, then began to chaîné until I burst through the doors of the bank. All eyes turned to me as I stopped short, throwing my arm out in the direction of three of the men. Large bolts of electricity shot down, completely frying the men with guns. Five jumped down from his position on the desk and high-fived me, all of our siblings congratulating each other on a job well done. But there were still a few men left in the vault, and there really was only one person that could deal with it._

_Ben hung his head as we all looked to him, waiting for him to get in there and do his job._

_"Do we really have to do this?" he asked quietly, trying to get out of it._

_"Come on, Ben," Luther sighed. "There's more guys in the vault."_

_"You've got this, Ben." My encouragement did nothing to lessen his reluctance, but he made his way toward the door._

_"I didn't sign up for this," he sighed. Still, the door closed behind him, and a few seconds later, a roar came from inside, and bodies began to fly and scream. They thrashed and flailed for a few minutes, before everything went silent, and Ben emerged, completely soaked in blood. "Can we go home now?"_

_"Let's get out of here, guys." I tapped Five on his arm, and he ran out to follow all of us. We stood out in front of the news cameras and reporters, waiting for Dad to come down and give his speech. I could vaguely spot Vanya on the rooftop they'd been watching from, and I couldn't help but feel sorry. She was the only one of us who didn't have any sort of powers, and because of that, Dad wouldn't let her come with us. He always made us leave her out._

_I leaned my arm against my brother's shoulder, trying my best to save face for the camera as Dad approached._

_"Our world is changing. Has changed. There are some among us gifted with abilities far beyond the ordinary. I have adopted seven such children." I sighed. He never once mentioned Vanya. "I give you the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy."_

_Immediately, reporters began to flood Dad with questions._

_"Mr. Hargreeves!"_

_"Mr. Hargreeves, Channel 9 News. What happened to their parents?"_

_"They were suitably compensated." Five and I exchanged a glance. It was strange to think that our Mom, the one that gave birth to us, was out there, maybe watching this. Did she know it was us, or had she forgotten entirely? Was she even alive?_

_"Are you concerned about the welfare of the children?"_

_"Of course. As I am for the fate of the world."_

Even back then, I knew he was full of shit.

Angrily, I threw the mask back into its drawer and flopped down on my bed, staring at the blank ceiling. Luther's accusations kept stirring around in my mind, only riling me up further. Part of me wanted to talk to Klaus or Vanya, get things out of my mind, but leaving the room also ran the risk of running into Luther, and I just couldn't look at him right now. How dare he accuse us of such atrocities?

Suddenly, I was distracted from my brooding thoughts by music blasting through the halls. The familiar tune involuntarily caused me to start tapping my foot, though I tried my best to prevent it. _I Think We're Alone Now,_ in particular, was one of those songs that brought back rare, pleasant moments when we would all just break out dancing, forgetting the bad things that happened before and enjoying ourselves.

Unable to resist, I got up, spinning and jumping and flicking my wrists to discharge electricity as it built up. I actually felt myself start to smile as the melody moved on, and I got more and more into the dancing. Just as I was finally starting to let loose, a crash of thunder causing everything to come to a halt. I looked down at my hands for a moment, but quickly reminded myself thunder never came with my abilities. The sky outside was a strange, unearthly blue.

It was a familiar blue.

Hopeful, I scrambled outside into the back courtyard, where I met with everyone else. They all seemed equally as confused, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

"What is it?" Vanya asked over the chaos.

"Don't get too close!" Allison warned.

"Yeah, no shit."

"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly," I suggested. "Either that, or a miniature black hole. One of the two."

"Pretty big difference there, Mina!"

"Out of the way!"

I watched, slightly dumbfounded, as Klaus pushed through all of us and chucked a fire extinguisher into the blue light. It disappeared through to the other side, and I rolled my eyes.

"What is that gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Klaus whined. Based on his attitude, I could tell he'd already gotten high again. "Do you have a better idea?"

Electricity began to crackle as a figure suddenly appeared in the light, looking as though he were trying to push through whatever it was.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Everybody get behind me." Luther grabbed Klaus by the collar and pulled him back.

"Yeah, get behind us."

"I vote for running! C'mon!"

The figure pushed themselves completely through the light, and when they crashed to the ground, the wind immediately died down and the light disappeared with one last clap of thunder. My heart hammered furiously in my chest as my eyes widened, trying to convince myself this was, in fact, real. The six of us stepped forward carefully, watching the figure as they attempted to stand up. He looked the same as he did the day he disappeared, which didn't make much sense, but it definitely was him.

I involuntarily gasped as he stood up. That face gave me all the confirmation I needed.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?"

Five looked down at himself, as though realizing how he looked for the first time, and sighed.

"Shit."

His eyes rested on me, moving up quite a bit, and slowly, the others backed away, watching with baited breath. There were equal chances I would either scold or hug him, and no one could be quite sure. But, in the moment, all I felt was overwhelming relief. I rushed forward, pushing my other siblings aside a bit, and crouched down on the ground, pulling him into a hug. He hesitated for a moment, then returned the gesture, only pushing away when I started to cry.

"You... you're back," I whispered, trying to breathe. "And you're... still 13?" He nodded, looking down. This was going to need some serious explaining.


	4. All the Science and Violence

Despite the confusing circumstances, I couldn't help smiling as I watched Five bustle around. The suit he was wearing-- I'm not exactly sure how or where he got it-- hung loose on his younger form, slightly impeding his progress.

"What's the date?" Five asked as he slammed a wooden cutting board down. "The exact date." He reached for a loaf of bread on the shelf, causing Klaus and I to grimace slightly. God knows how long that was sitting there, completely unused.

"The 24th," I answered after another moment of silence.

"Of what?"

"March." Where the hell had he gone that he didn't know what day it was?

"Good." Everyone looked to me, waiting for me to continue talking to Five. I suppose, given the circumstances, they trusted he would give me answers easier than any of the others.

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Five remained silent, focusing on making his food. He continued to ignore us until I stood, drawing his attention upward. "It's been 17 years."

"It's been a lot longer than that," he scoffed, trying his best to get up in my face. He glared up at me for another moment, then the air around him bent and turned slightly blue, allowing him essentially to teleport in order to get around me. He reached up for a jar of peanut butter as I sighed, allowing my eyes to fall downward.

"I haven't missed that." I picked myself back up, determined to figure everything out. "Where'd you go?"

"The future." He pulled a bag of marshmallows off the shelf. "It's shit, by the way."

My eyes widened. He had actually time traveled? I thought he had just accidentally jumped to some remote location and couldn't come back. This... this was an entirely different, and far more dangerous, story. I turned to look back at the others, who all shrugged, appearing just as confused as I was. That is, except for Klaus, who remained half in the conversation.

"Called it," Klaus stated, holding a finger up.

"I should've listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." Five looked up for a moment, barely sparing a glance at Klaus. "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, _danke_!"

"Wait, how did you get back?" I questioned, trying to bring us back to the point of this meeting.

"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time." We all looked at each other, more confused than we were before.

"That makes no sense," Diego muttered, speaking for me as I attempted to process.

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Diego shot up from his seat, but thankfully, Luther held him back, nodding at me to encourage my line of questioning.

"How long were you there?"

"Forty-five years, give or take." My brows flew up further as I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. This still made no goddamn sense. I felt myself teetering slightly, and the next thing I knew, Luther reached out to help me into a chair.

"So what are you saying? That you're 58?"

"No, my consciousness is 58." He sounded frustrated that I still wasn't understanding. "Apparently, my body is now 13 again." I couldn't fight down a tiny, nostalgia-fueled smile as Five finished assembling his peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. But not two seconds later, the confusion set back in.

"Wait, how does that even work?"

"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh." I buried my face further into my hand. The more answers I got, the more confused I became. "Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores?" Instead of answering, Five reached for the newspaper, reading the large cover story headline about Dad's death.

"Hmm. Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?" I understood that concept, at least. Unfortunately, Five beat me to the punch.

"What part of the future do you not understand?"

"Five," I snapped, shooting him a warning glance. He backed off slightly, now focusing his attention on the newspaper on the table. He picked the thing up and read the cover story's headline about Dad's death

"Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah."

"No," Luther protested. I reached out and smacked his arm, trying to get him to shut up. Now was not the time for his crazy conspiracies.

"Hmm. Nice to see nothing's changed." Frustrated, he started to make his way out of the room.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say? Circle of life."

I pressed my tongue against my teeth, trying to hide my face from everyone else in an attempt to disguise the fact I felt like bursting into tears. I had begged for this moment to come for ages, the time when my brother would finally come home, and now he was just being his snarky little self. But there was something else behind the superiority complex this time. Something had happened, some event that caused his personality to harden, and I needed to figure out what it was.

"Mina?" I looked up to see Vanya standing behind me. All our siblings were eyeing me with concern, as though waiting to see what would happen. "Are you okay?"

Without saying a word, I pushed my chair back and made my way upstairs. I was planning to sit in the drawing room for a while and attempt to collect myself before trying another conversation with Five, but to my surprise, he was already in there, changed into one of his old uniforms. I supposed it was the only thing that fit him now. He was staring intently at the portrait of him Dad had put up not long after his disappearance, as though he couldn't remember who he had been.

"Nice to know Dad didn't forget me." My heart softened as he turned to look at me. He had that same innocent expression I remembered, but something about his eyes... there was a light to them that indicated he was, in fact, wise beyond his physical years. "I saw your posters, by the way. There was still one hanging from the theater you're performing in. Nice to see you occupied your time with something. And a little success doesn't hurt, of course." I chuckled, crossing my arms.

"It's all I focused on after you disappeared-- kept my mind busy."

"I can see that." My relaxed posture suddenly tensed, as I shifted my gaze to a glare and took on a hostile tone.

"I don't know what you're implying, but I can guarantee you you're wrong." He returned my stern annoyance.

"Your skeleton is showing, Mina."

"That's just how you look when you dedicate your days to dancing," I snapped. "I'm exercising seven days a week for hours on end. What else was I supposed to do? My own brother disappeared."

"There are worse things that can happen."

"Like what happened to Ben?" The air immediately changed, tension fading away. Both of us had been close to Ben, treating him like a real brother. Losing him was hard enough on the rest of us, but not being here... I couldn't imagine how horrible Five felt.

"Was it bad?" I tried my best not to remember, knowing that if I went back to that place in my mind, I might not come back out. Instead. I just nodded. "I'm sorry, Mina."

"Like you said." I shrugged, looking down at my feet. "Circle of life."

"His shouldn't have closed that soon." I shook my head, trying to get all those thoughts out of my head.

"I, uh... I can't stay much longer. I have another show tonight." I paused for a moment, choking a bit on the starts of tears. "But I'm glad you came back, and I got to see you before I have to go."

He remained silent, still staring at the portrait, and with a sigh, I started to turn on my heel to leave. I guess I really had lost my brother to whatever happened in the future. Something had broken him, something that haunted his mind. I'd initially come up here to try and probe what that could have been, but I was just left hopeless.

I hadn't even turned a quarter of the way when I felt a force slam against me, catching me by surprise. I looked down to see Five pulling me into a hug, looking like a little kid again. I paused for a moment, unsure of what brought this on, then reached down and wrapped my arms around my brother. It felt sort of strange, having to crouch down to him when we'd been the same height before, but that was a minor inconvenience that didn't matter right now. In this moment, he was acting like my brother again, albeit a younger one.

"I missed you, Mina," I heard him mutter.

"I missed you too, Five."

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway, bringing both our attentions over to Luther.

"We're, uh... we're gonna go have the ceremony now." He crossed the room and picked up the urn from the counter. "It's raining, so... you two better bring an umbrella."

"Noted."

Once he left, we made our way into the hall and grabbed two of the umbrellas from the stand in the hallway. Everyone met up by the back door, then followed Luther out to the courtyard. For a moment, as I opened my umbrella, my eyes fell on Ben's statue, shimmering with raindrops.

"Did something happen?" Mom asked, a bright smile still on her face. Klaus and I exchanged a glance, concerned. It seemed like she had gone into a state of shock, but I didn’t even know if it was possible for that to happen to her.

"Dad died. Remember?" She looked at Allison with confusion for a moment, before her memories seemed to come back to her.

"Oh, yes, of course."

"Is Mom okay?" I looked to Diego, hoping he had some sort of answer. Out of all of us, he’d be the most likely to know.

"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge." I glanced at Klaus in disapproval as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. Of course, he was the only one of us that hadn't brought a black umbrella, instead opting for clear with bright pink trim.

Pogo limped up to join the line of our siblings, looking over all of us expectantly.

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy," he encouraged.

Luther stared at the urn a moment, as though reluctant to let the contents of the ornate vessel go. He always had this strange attachment to Dad, so I didn't blame him for hesitating. Eventually, he took the top off, then dumped the white ashes out onto the dirt. They just sort of fluttered down, no show, no flair. Luther blinked a couple times, looking up at us sheepishly.

"Probably would have been better with some wind." I nodded.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked, even though he likely knew it was a lost cause. Everyone remained silent, no one daring to speak their minds. Even Luther didn't have good things to say, so it was better to say nothing when honoring his memory. "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master... and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy--"

"He was a monster." I stared at Diego with contempt. Now was not the time for releasing personal grudges and vendettas into the air. Klaus, however, laughed at Diego's words. "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."

"Diego," Allison snapped.

"My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names." My eyes flicked down to Five. "He had Mom do it."

"Would anyone like something to eat?" I sighed. Mom had completely broken at this point.

"No, it's okay, Mom," Vanya answered awkwardly, unsure of how to approach what was happening right now.

"Oh, okay."

"Look, you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."

"You should stop talking now," Luther warned. Diego glared at him, each of his steps closer to his brother increasing his hostility.

"You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."

"I am warning you."

"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away."

"Diego, stop talking."

"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!"

Diego prodded at Luther as he said those words, provoking his brother into slapping his arm away. He began to throw punches in his brother's direction, fruitlessly attempting to land some sort of hit that would discourage him. He should have known by now that if he managed to hit Diego, that would only enrage him more.

"Boys, stop this at once!" Pogo ordered. On instinct, I thrust an arm out in front of Five, attempting to guard him from potentially getting hit. The moment he realized what I was doing, he pushed it down, scoffing at me.

"Come on, big boy!" Diego ducked down to avoid a blow, the began to pound on Luther's back furiously, as though he were a child throwing a temper tantrum.

"Stop it!" Luther grabbed his brother's arm and swung into the air.

"Hit him!" Klaus encouraged. "Hit him!"

"Klaus!" I scolded. Despite his efforts, Luther couldn't manage to land a single punch on Diego, instead only taking the blows and reacting poorly, until by some miracle, he managed to grab his brother by the collar and throw him to the ground.

"Get off me!" My whole body tensed the closer they got to Ben's statue. Both of them appeared to be growing tired, and for a moment, I thought the slowing down meant that the fighting would finally stop, and this all could be done for now. They wouldn't exactly stop fighting, there'd just be a respite period.

"We don't have time for this," Five sighed, turning on his heel and starting to head inside. He had a point. I had to leave soon, but I didn't want to leave and risk something happening to Ben's statue, or worse, one of our spectating siblings. Whichever one of the two of the fighters got hurt at this point deserved it for not being able to control themselves.

"Come here, big boy!"

The world seemed to move in slow motion as Luther lunged forward, bringing his fist toward Diego's face. At the last second, the latter ducked out of the way, and Luther's fist instead collided with the statue, knocking it off its pedestal. The moment it hit the dirt, the head popped off, rolling a couple of inches away.

"And there goes Ben's statue," Allison sighed.

Suddenly, Diego removed one of his knives from its holster and chucked it in Luther's direction. As expected, it struck right on target, grazing him hard enough to slice open his jacket and cause blood to come pouring out of the wound. Luther staggered back slightly, shocked, and placed his hand over the injury, attempting to bring his senses back and figure out what to do. Furious, I stepped closer to Diego, glaring at him as I spoke.

"You never know when to stop, do you?"

With that, I went back inside and rushed down to my room, gathering up my things and heading out the door without saying a word to anyone. I drove to the theater on auto-pilot, my brain completely leaving my body as I performed my usual numbers. No one said a thing to me as I moved about backstage, no one said goodbye as I left.


	5. Blood Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm purposely putting the flashback later than when it actually falls. I'm trying to preserve the flow of the chapter

I sat in the driver's seat, contemplating what to do for a solid ten minutes. I could head back to my apartment, pretend all of this never happened and move on. I'd attended the service, I did my duty, I watched things go up in flames. I had no reason to head back there ever again, possibly for the rest of my life. Everyone else had probably already left, too. There really wasn't a point in going back.

As I gripped the wheel, my eyes fluttered down to my left forearm. Some of the full-coverage foundation had started to rub off, revealing the black umbrella tattooed there. If I thought back far enough, I could still remember the pain of it being branded into my skin. My siblings-- with the exception of Vanya, as usual-- had gotten them together, forced by Dad when we were just 13. Though we tried to ignore it, these tattoos bonded us, showing off our relationship to each other.

Still, I just couldn't spend the night there. Not while the tensions were still that high, at least. I could go back in the morning and see everyone, and hope there wouldn't be as much fighting tomorrow. It was unlikely there wouldn't be any, but a diminished amount was better than nothing.

I jumped as Five turned on a lamp in my apartment, sitting on my couch and waiting for me. I knew he had jumped to get in here, but still, it concerned me that he had just let himself in.

"Jesus!" I stumbled back a bit, and as my heart rate slowed down, I stepped inside, eyeing him cautiously.

"You should have locks on your windows."

"I live on the second floor," I argued as I set my keys down on the counter.

"Rapists can climb." I shot him an unamused glance.

"You know, that's _exactly_ what I wanted to hear from my brother. Not disturbing at all." I scoffed as I shut the door. "You are so weird."

I sat down on my couch, ready to interrogate him on why exactly he was in my apartment without telling me first, when my eyes fell to some stain on his collar. The dark red color concerned me, dissolving the hostility.

"Is that blood?" He looked down at the stains casually.

"It's nothing."

"What do you mean it's-- why are you here?" He paused for a moment, shifting his position slightly.

"I've decided you're the only one I can trust." My eyes widened. I understood why he trusted me, I didn't need clarification on that. 

"Can you at least let me fix that situation?" I pointed to the blood on his arm.

"Fine," he sighed.

I made my way back into the bathroom and grabbed bandages and disinfectant. He rolled up his sleeve, removing the napkin he'd tied around his forearm wound as a makeshift bandage. I poured some of the disinfecting liquid onto a piece of gauze and turned to cleanse the wound, but when my eyes rested on it, I nearly gagged. It ran deep, as though he'd been cut into. I inhaled sharply through my teeth as I looked over it, growing increasingly concerned and curious as to what happened. Five didn't even flinch as I brushed over the deep gash.

"When I jumped forward and I got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" His voice trembled slightly as he asked.

"No."

"Nothing." I halted in my movements, processing what he said. "Absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell, I was the last person alive."

That was it. The thing that changed him, made him into this bitter person. Strange how I had been trying so hard to ask him about it, but when it came down to the moment, the words just casually spilled out of him.

"I never figured out what killed the human race, but... I did find something else." I finished wrapping up the injury. "The date it happens. The world ends in eight days, and I don't know how to stop it."

I stared down at his arm, trying to think everything through. The end of the world was just over a week away... the end of all things. These mundane fights and jobs we walked through would seem like nothing. They would _be_ nothing if we didn't figure out how to stop this soon. I couldn't fathom a response, couldn't think of a way to accurately counter what he had just said.

"I'll put on a pot of coffee."

I got up from my seat, reaching into the cabinets and pulling out an aromatic bag. I wasn't a fan of the drink myself, but I kept it around for guests and entertainment.

That really didn't happen all that often, so the bag was nearly full.

Once the drink had finished brewing I poured some of it into a mug and passed it off to my brother. He took a few sips, as though they would calm his nerves, before elaborating.

"I survived on scraps. Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find." Strangely enough, he chuckled. "You know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life?" I nodded. "Well, it's total bullshit."

"I can't even imagine."

"You do whatever it takes to survive or you die. So we adapted"

His expression fell grave, not making eye contact as he mentally fell back into that place. I wanted to reach out to him, comfort my brother, but I wanted to let him finish his story first. This was the furthest I'd gotten with him on the subject, I didn't want to disrupt him.

"Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."

"We?" Once again, he dodged the question, instead opting to hold up the mug.

"You got anything stronger?" I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out whether he was joking or not. Contrary to what I hoped, his expression remained completely serious, waiting for me to go fetch whatever booze I had hiding in the depths of my cabinet. He could pull whatever consciousness-age bullshit he wanted to; in body, he was still 13, which wasn't even close enough to drink.

But who was I to judge? The kid had been through shit.

I fished out the only bottle I had, from around the time I had first moved into this apartment, and poured it into one of my chipped glasses. I never really used the cutlery and dishes around here, always being at the studio or a theater, so they had all aged pretty poorly. Still slightly weirded out by this whole situation, I handed the glass to Five and watched as he drank it straight, without even flinching. I kept having to remind myself that in his mind, he was nearly 60, and had survived the end of the world. Being alone, or at least with whoever this 'we' was, for that long messed with your mind more than time travel ever could. I didn't exactly have the experience to validate that, but all of Dad's warnings were enough to scare any of us out of encouraging Five.

He must have noticed how completely and utterly confused I appeared, because he took one look at my face and scoffed.

"You think I'm crazy." My eyes immediately widened, caught off guard.

"No." I stammered for a while, trying to collect myself and shake off the surprise. "It's just... it's a lot to take in."

"Exactly what don't you understand?" I started to grow frustrated as Five took on that slightly condescending tone.

"Why didn't you just time travel back?"

"Gee, wish I'd thought of that." I crossed my arms, jutting my head out the side slightly--something Diego told me I did when I was annoyed. "Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed." That was a metaphor I hadn't heard in a while. "You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family? To get back to my _sister_?" It felt so strange, hearing him say that. I swore since he came back, he never verbally acknowledged that we were actually related.

"If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?" I was still trying to get clear on the science behind that.

"I told you already, I must have got the equations wrong." I sighed as he went over to the bottle, pouring himself more of the alcoholic beverage.

"I mean, Dad always used to say that time travel could mess with your mind. Well, maybe that's what's happening?" He suddenly slammed the glass down.

"This was a mistake. You're too young, too naive to understand."

I'd had about enough at that point.

"Oh, _I'm_ too young? Have you looked in the mirror recently?" He scoffed, starting to head out. "And quit taking that tone with me!"

Five halted in his tracks, turning around and glaring at me. I held strong as he got closer, mainly because he couldn't get up in my face.

"What tone?"

"That condescending shit you do, acting like you're the only one who could possibly understand. I mean, shit, Five, I'm still your sister! We're the only blood we each have left at this point, and you talking like that isn't going to make things better." At this point, thoughts were just spilling out, uninterrupted. "You have to realize how hard this is to wrap my head around. For the first 13 years of my life, we were the same age, right? You were, like, two seconds younger, but we both were born at almost the same time. Then you disappear for 17 years, I give up complete and total hope that I will _ever_ see you again, and then you just come back today; and now, you're somehow both my older and younger brother. Of course I think you're crazy, but only because I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

I let out a long, painful exhale as I finished my rant, attempting to decompress. I couldn't read the expression on Five's face, it had too many different emotions mixed into it. We both stood there for a moment, completely silent, then his eyes fell, and he started to walk out again. My heart immediately began to race at the thought of losing him again.

"No. Five... Five, wait." Everything began to overwhelm me, and for about the fifth time that day, tears started to well up. Thankfully, he stopped and turned to me, though he still looked hurt. "I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all." The anger melted away, leaving two broken kids staring at each other. "And you know what, it's getting late, and I have a show tomorrow evening, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too." I pointed behind me. "I can sleep on my couch if you want something comfortable to sleep on. I'm sure it's been a long time since you've had an actual bed to sleep on.

"Oh, uh, no, that's fine. The couch is still more comfortable than the rubble." I nodded, then made my way over to arrange the pillows and set out blankets.

"We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise." I started to make my way toward my room.

"Mina?"

"Hmm?"

As soon as I turned around, I got tackled into another bear hug. I sighed happily, wrapping my arms around my now little brother and squeezing him tight. I hadn't been this happy in a long time, and I'm sure he hadn't, either. It just felt good to be back with the one person I felt closest to, even if they weren't the same as when I last saw them.

"’Night."

I made sure he laid down on the couch before I headed into my room and prepared for bed.

_The chime of Mom ringing the dinner bell summoned all of us to the dining room. Five and I cleaned up the cards in front of us, setting them back in the box, then rushed down the stairs to catch up with the others. The eight of us marched in line, falling into place behind our designated chairs and remaining completely silent. Rather than music, Dad always preferred records that relayed survival skills to be the sounds to soothe our consumption and digestion. Clearly, he somehow thought we'd absorb the information. Dad entered the dining room, violently yanking his chair out._

_"Sit." He ordered._

_Everyone eagerly began to eat... except for Five, who picked up his fork and stared at it with contempt. If I talked to him, I'd get yelled at, so instead, I nudged him with my elbow and gestured down to my food, trying to get him to eat. He, technically, was my younger brother, even if only by a couple seconds, and I tried my best to look out for him._

_I snapped my head up as Five slammed his knife into the wooden table, digging it deep enough to make it stand up on its own._

_"Number Five?" Dad barely looked up at him._

_"I have a question." Five's voice hissed as he spoke. Carefully, I reached over and removed the knife from the wood._

_"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules. No talking during mealtime. You are interrupting Herr Carlson."_

Ah, yes, _I thought._ The true tragedy of the evening.

_"I want to time travel." Slowly, I lowered my utensils, trying to keep my mouth shut._

_"No."_

_"But I'm ready. I've been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said." He pushed back his chair, standing a second before jumping just next to Dad, as though that would impress him. "See?"_

_"A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel," Dad explained. "One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn." I knew Dad meant that to be humorous, but Five's expression didn't waver._

_"Well, I don't get it."_

_"Hence the reason you're not ready." Five and I connected eyes for a moment, and I shook my head, trying to get him to sit down and finish eating. I knew if someone didn't talk him down, or the closest I could get to that right now, his arrogance would get the better of him._

_"I'm not afraid."_

_"Fear isn't the issue. The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore."_

_Five lingered there for another moment, staring daggers into Dad, before suddenly turning on his heel and sprinting out of the house._

_"Number Five! You haven't been excused!" Quickly, I shot up from my chair, causing it to clatter to the ground, and started to run after him. "Number Four! Sit back down and finish your dinner!"_

_Fire began spreading through my veins as I turned around, staring Dad down for the first time in my life. I had been obedient and kept my mouth shut, but now, in a time when I needed to do something outside of what was normal, he wanted to stop me?_

_"No!" I shouted, causing the rest of my siblings to jump. I'd never shouted before. "That is my brother out there. If I can save him from making a huge mistake, none of your rules are going to hold me back."_

_With that, I sprinted out, throwing open the doors and gate, and rushed out onto the sidewalk. People walked by quickly, a few stopping to stare at me judgmentally. A few feet in front of me, I saw him storming down the sidewalk. If I moved fast enough, I could catch him._

_"Five!" He turned his head back, but didn't stop walking. "Five, stop!" For a moment, he paused, turning to look at me. I thought, stupidly, he was actually listening to me for once._

_My mistake._

_I just nearly reached him, extending my hand out to grab his arm, when he jumped, disappearing completely. My hand fell through violently, causing me to stumble, and I stared down at it in horror, as though it had caused him to vanish. I could feel my body trembling as I fought to hold back sobs, looking around as though I didn't know where I was._

_"Five?" I shouted, like that'd cause him to suddenly just pop up. "Five!"_

_I waited a few more minutes, shouting until my face ran wet with tears and my throat had been ripped raw._

_Nothing. He was gone._

_Sadness and fear suddenly became replaced with anger. How could he be so stupid, thinking he could just jump and then come back? Dad warned him, he didn't listen. That stupid arrogance, that attitude of his... he did this. He just up and left, and he looked at me, tricking me into thinking he'd actually listen. This was all just some game to him, a chance to show off what he could do and prove everyone wrong. He thought this was_ fun _._

_"Asshole!" I suddenly screamed at the spot I had last seen him, before turning and sprinting back inside, pushing casual strollers out of the way. The door slammed shut behind me, and I violently yanked my chair up and scooted back in, closer to the table. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, waiting to figure out what to do. I kept staring down at the plate in front of me, half-finished._

_I wasn't even close to hungry anymore._

_I felt Klaus' hand rest on my arm, and suddenly, that did me in. I set off like a firecracker, flipping my plate and causing food to splatter everywhere before I shot back up and stormed upstairs. No one said a word, Dad didn't even try to stop me. It was like suddenly, they all understood._

_Pushing down the anger, the tormenting loss, the hatred, I reached for my pointe shoes and headed to the studio._

I just needed to take my mind off things... The same damn excuse for 17 years.


	6. Oh, for the Drama!

"’Morning, Five," I called out to the hallway as I slid my legs over the edge of the bed, stretching in an attempt to crack whatever was hurting. Strangely enough, I didn't get a response, and was greeted only by the sounds of the city rushing by outside the windows. Carefully, I stood up and made my way out into my living room, thinking maybe he was still asleep. The poor kid needed it, after all that time sleeping among the ruins.

Unfortunately, I didn't find my brother at all. In fact, the couch looked the same as it had when I set things out for him.

Dammit. I shouldn't have fallen for that.

I tried to keep my panic down as I reached for my phone, dialing the number for my studio and waiting for the answering machine to pick up.

"Hey, it's Mina Hargreeves. I wanted to let you know some... extenuating circumstances have come up, involving my family. I'm going to have to take the rest of the season off, unfortunately. Everything's gonna be fine, probably, I just need to help figure things out."

Once I set the phone down on the receiver, I rushed to change and ran out the door, starting up my car as fast as I could. The best place to look would be the house. Maybe he just missed his own room? I couldn't explain Five sometimes, but I knew him well enough that I should've realized he had other plans. After last night, when he came in with that cut... what the hell was he getting up to?

My parking job wasn't the best, but that really didn't matter to me at the moment. I threw open the doors, hurrying up the stairs to the room that had gone untouched for ages.

"Five? Are you upstairs? Five?"

Thankfully, I found a boy standing by the window, looking down at the alleyway below.

"Oh, thank god." I let out a sigh, making my way over to him. "I was worried sick about you."

"Sorry I left without saying goodbye." He sounded far off, like his mind had gone to its own little world, yet to come back from whatever escape he needed.

I was prepared to chew him out, scold him about sneaking off and how I didn't want him to disappear again, but the moment he turned and looked at me, I just was happy he was still here... and definitely regretful that I had just brushed him aside last night. I'm sure that only made him feel worse about all of this. All the tension from our bickering could be put aside.

"No, look, I'm the one that should be sorry. Yeah, I was dismissive, and... Like I said, I didn't know how to process what you were saying. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything. I'm worried about you, in all honesty."

"Maybe you were right to be dismissive," he scoffed. "Maybe it wasn't real after all." He turned away, wandering over to his desk and pushing an old toy cement truck along. "It felt real. Well... like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind." He sounded hurt, causing my stomach to drop a little.

"No, no, I wasn't. I've just been dealing with a lot. I mean, you came back covered in blood last night. Whatever's going on, because I know there's more than you just going to the future, I want to help you. When you disappeared, I was mad, and it all just kind of came back last night, after all of the events. I missed you a lot, Five."

That brought a smile to his face, and I pulled him into a hug.

"I'm here for you, kid, whatever you're dealing with."

"Thanks, but... I think I'm just gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep."

That, right there, that was it. At least this time I knew he was lying. I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Five, I'm not falling for that bullshit again." He stared me down, attempting to intimidate me, but when he realized that wouldn't work, he caved.

"All right, fine. There is something you can help me with." His gaze fell behind me, toward his closet. "Klaus?"

Klaus came tumbling out of the closet, dressed in some ridiculous shirt and tight pair of pants. My eyes bounced from Five to Klaus, furrowing my brow at both of them. Klaus had been listening that whole time? Jesus Christ...

"That's so..." He gasped, placing a hand on his chest. "...touching, all that stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!"

"Would you shut up?" Five snapped.

"Klaus, what the hell were you doing in there?" I demanded.

"I'm moist." I sighed, shaking my head.

"Thank you for answering my question."

"I told you to put on something professional." Klaus looked down at his younger brother, offended.

"What? This is my nicest outfit." Five sighed.

"We'll raid the old man's closet." Klaus and I glanced at each other before following Five out of his room. "You'll need something nice, too, Mina."

"As long as I get paid," Klaus pestered.

"Once the job is done."

"Okay, but just so we're clear on the finer details, I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your dear old dad, correct?"

"Yeah, something like that." Five shifted his gaze to me. "You can pretend to be my mom, that'll help with this whole rouse." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What exactly are you planning here? I need to understand what I'm doing in order to help you." Before Five could answer, Klaus started spilling whatever came to mind.

"What's our cover story?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I mean, was I really young when I had you? Like, 16? Young, and..." He placed his hands on his chest. "...terribly misguided?"

"Sure," Five answered nonchalantly, clearly focused on the more important issue.

"Your mother, that slut--" I immediately snapped my head over to him, staring daggers.

"Hey!" I snapped, feeling strangely offended.

"We met at the disco. Okay? Remember that." Five's eyes were distant as he nodded, clearly having tuned his brother out at this point.

"Oh, my God, the sex was _amazing."_ My anger quickly melted into disgust.

"Klaus!" Five shouted.

"That's disgusting!" He looked between both of us, confused.

"What?" It took him a moment, likely because he was high off his ass, but he finally caught on. His eyes widened as he pointed to me. "Oh, you're-- oh, God!"

"Yeah..." I shook my head, trying to move on.

"What a disturbing glimpse into that thing you call a brain."

"Don't make me put you in time out." I pointed down the hall.

"I'm gonna go consult Allison's fashion archives, we'll rendez-vous back here once we're done."

"Hey!" Five pointed an accusatory finger up at me. "Don't try and take over, this is my plan. You don't even know what we're doing." I scoffed.

"Okay, one: I'm older than you, now more than ever. And, two: why don't you explain it to me, that way I know what's going on?"

"I will in a bit."

Rolling my eyes, I made my way into Allison's room, opening her closet. The amount of nice things she had made me stop for a moment, just staring at all of it. She had just been gifted these things, or had more than enough money to go on a spending spree at one store. She had lucked out up until recently, and I knew she had taken it for granted. We were two sides of the same coin, two different kinds of fame.

I reached in and grabbed what I assumed would be the least expensive to replace if there was some sort of incident, slipping it on and heading out to meet my brothers back at the top of the stairs.

"All right, tell me where we're going, Five."

"What?" As usual, he sounded agitated.

"Well, I need to know where we're going to I can drive there," I reasoned.

"No, no, no. I'm driving." I sharply exhaled, laughing at him.

"Absolutely not. If you get caught driving, we'll get pulled over and ticketed, and that's the last thing we need right now. And Klaus can't drive because--" We both looked over at him, swaying back and forth as his head remained in its own little world, until he noticed we were staring, at which point, he awkwardly waved. "Yeah..."

"That one speaks for itself."

"So I'm driving. There you go." Five sighed, defeated.

"Fine. It's a place called MeriTech Prosthetics." I raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of business do you have there?" Five reached into his pocket, removing a prosthetic eye and holding it up to me.

"Is that eye supposed to identify itself or something?"

"I just need you and Klaus to go into this guy's office and ask him for the name of the person who owns this. Tell him we want to give it back to them, that should get him to talk."

"So that you can do what, exactly?" He immediately put the eye away and turned to head down the stairs, avoiding the question all together. I'd get whatever he was hiding out of him, it would just take some time.

Klaus kept laughing and rambling on in the back seat, sounding as though he were talking to someone. Every now and then, he'd look next to the empty seat next to him and mumble something or ask a question. It made me sad to think one of my brothers I'd adored the most fell down this hole, all to keep the demons at bay. I couldn't imagine the horrors constantly playing through his head, screaming and begging for help. Was it the way I wished he dealt with this? No. But at the same time, I couldn't blame him.

I pulled off and parked away from the entrance, and allowed Five to lead the way inside. He took us up to top level offices, where different technicians sat in their offices, typing away or speaking on the phone. Five approached the receptionist's desk, offering her an overly-perky smile.

"Hello, how can I help you all?" she asked, raising her voice a bit.

"My parents and I are here to see the person who manufactures the prosthetic eyes. They have an inquiry." Klaus and I looked toward each other, still unsure of what was going on,

"One moment." She reached for the phone and dialed a number, "Lance? I have clients here to see you." She paused for a moment, then set the phone back on the receiver. "His office is just back there." She pointed down the hall of offices, all with completely transparent divisions.

"Thank you."

The three of us made our way back, entering the office with artificial smiles. Klaus took a seat, while I stood behind Five. Immediately, this ‘Lance’ seemed to recognize Five, his expression falling.

"I already told you, kid. I can't give you any information." I tried to fight down my surprise as I spoke.

"My son..." I paused for a moment, trying to make that word sound normal. "...just wants to get this eye back to its owner. All we need is the name, and we'll be on our way." Lance sighed.

"Like I said to your son earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential. Without the client's consent, I simply can't help you."

"Well, we can't get consent unless you give us a name." My eyes widened slightly. That was disturbingly hostile.

"Well, there's nothing I can do. Sorry. Now, there's really nothing more I can do, so--"

"And what about _my_ consent?" Five and I met eyes, shrugging. What the hell was Klaus doing?

"Excuse me?"

"Who gave you permission..." Somehow, Klaus started crying. "...to lay your hands... on my son..."

"What?" the three of us observing asked at the same time.

"You heard me."

"I didn't touch your son," Mr. Big pointed out.

"Oh, really? Well, then how did he get that swollen lip, then?" Was Klaus tripping again?

"He doesn't have a swollen--"

In one fluid motion, Klaus stood from his chair, raised his hand, and slapped Five across the face, causing the skin on his bottom lip to burst and start bleeding. Involuntarily, my jaw dropped, eyes bouncing between Five and Klaus. This plan, on the surface, seemed pretty dumb, but Klaus had the dramatic flair to pull it off. If Five and I went along with it, this could work. For the sake of trying, I shifted my glare to Lance, trying to make is seem as though he had done that. Klaus inhaled sharply as he rested his hands on the desk.

"I want it. Name, please. _Now_."

"You're crazy." Klaus chuckled.

"You have no idea." Klaus looked back to me, beckoning me over.

"Darling, come here a moment." I mentally prepared myself for whatever he was about to do to me.

"Yes?" He snapped his head back around to the man behind the desk.

"Look at this lovely face. Look at how you ruined it!" He suddenly picked up a stapler and struck my cheekbone. I felt the spot pulsating, and when I raised my hand to the injury, a significant amount of blood came off on it. Klaus reached down for the snow globe on Lance’s desk, smiling for a moment. "'Peace on Earth.' That's so sweet." Five and I jumped back as he slammed his head down onto the chotskie, causing it to burst and splatter glass and water everywhere. Blood rushed down Klaus' face as water dripped from his hair. "God, that hurt!"

Mr. Big reached for the phone, but before he could even get a word out, Klaus snatched it from his hand.

"What are you doing?"

"There's been an assault in Mr. Big's office and we need security, now. _Schnell!_ " Klaus slammed the phone back on the receiver, smirking at the man in front of him. "Now, here's what's gonna happen, Grant--"

"It's Lance," he corrected.

"In about 60 seconds, two security guards are gonna burst through that door, and they're gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they're gonna wonder, 'What the hell happened?' And we're gonna tell them that _you_... beat the shit out of us." Klaus went from crying to smiling, standing up straight. "You're gonna do great in prison, Grant. Trust me, I've been there. Little piece of chicken like you. Oh, my God, you're gonna get passed around like a..." Klaus began to circle his hips, causing Five and I to look at each other in disgust. I managed to get Klaus to look in my direction, and I quickly flicked my hand in front of my throat, signaling him to get to the point. Though, I had to give him credit: Grant Big looked sufficiently terrified. "You're just-- You're gonna do great. That's all I'm saying."

"Jesus, you are a real sick bastard."

"Thank you." I had to bite back laughter as Klaus said that with a straight face. He spat out a piece of glass from his mouth, and Grant got up from his seat, leading us over to his files. He hastily began to dig through, just trying his best to get us out of there, and pulled out a light grey one. He leafed through, scanning the pieces of paper, when his brow furrowed. That wasn't a good sign.

"Oh, that's strange?"

"What?" Five asked, maybe a little too harshly.

"Uh, the eye. It hasn't been purchased by a client yet." Klaus hopped over the desk and looked over Grant's shoulder, causing him to immediately tense up.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well, uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number... This can't be right. It hasn't even been manufactured yet." I rested my elbow on the large reception desk and leaned my forehead against my fist, frustrated. All of this had been for nothing, and I still didn't know why he needed to know who owned that eye. "Where did you get that eye?"

 _The future_ , I thought, though I didn't dare say that out loud. He already thought we were a bunch of psychos. Five just sighed bitterly, shaking his head, then turned on his heel and headed out. Klaus thanked Grant for his cooperation, albeit a bit forced, then the two of us rushed after our brother.

"Well, this is not good," he grunted, stomping his feet with determination.

"I was pretty good, though, right? 'Yeah. What about _my_ consent, bitch?'"

"Klaus, this isn't the time," I warned before focusing back on Five.

"Besides, it doesn't matter." His eyes were simmering with rage as he stared up his older brother. I probably would have been just as angry, had I not acknowledged that Klaus was even more lost than I was.

"What? What? What's the big deal with this eye, anyway?"

"There is someone out there who is going to lose an eye in the next seven days. They're going to bring about the end of life on this Earth as we know it."

"How can you be so sure about that?" I asked him, following his pacing with my eyes. "I mean, did you see them do something? Because at the moment, I'm inclined to believe it's just an eye." He halted in his tracks, turning to glare up at me.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Mina," he spat.

"I'm not saying that I'm not, I just want to make sure we have all our facts together. Like I said earlier, you're my little brother. I want to make sure that you're not about to walk into something that's gonna get you killed."

"That'll happen in seven days if we don't figure this out."

"Yeah, can I get that 20 bucks, like, now, or what?" Klaus interjected. I shot him an unamused glare, allowing my head to fall against my shoulder.

"Your 20 bucks?"

"Yeah, my 20 bucks."

"The apocalypse is coming, and all you can think about is getting high?" Five demanded.

"Well, I'm also quite hungry. Tummy's a-rumblin'." He wiggled his fingers and made growling noises with his mouth.

"You're useless. You're all useless!" Five slumped down on the stairs, having reached his breaking point with his brother. Although I wanted to take pity on Klaus and give him the benefit of the doubt, he really just couldn't focus right now, and both of them were getting on my nerves, just like they had at times when we were kids. I took a seat next to Five, hoping that just being with him would help him feel a little better.

"You need to lighten up, old man," Klaus scoffed. "Hey, you know, I've just realized why you're so uptight. You must be horny as hell."

I choked on my breath and visibly lurched as I glared up at Klaus. If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure he would've dropped dead right then and there. That was absolutely _revolting_ , not the sort of thing I wanted to think of, much less hear about, when it came to my brother.

"Oh, my God, Klaus, get a filter!" I shouted, flicking my arm out in his direction. Of course, he ignored me as he sat on the other side of our brother.

"All those years by yourself. It's gotta screw with your head, being alone." I hated to admit it, but he had a point.

I can't _believe_ I just thought that.

"Well... I wasn't alone."

We both looked down at him, shocked. How had he failed to mention that?"

"Oh? Pray tell."

"Her name was Delores." I nodded, more for myself than Five. So _that's_ who this Delores was. "We were together for over 30 years."

I had to admit, something about that made my heart feel warm. It was a little more assuring to know that Five had found someone to keep him from going completely insane in all of that. There was some sadness in the fact I'd probably never get to know who this girl was and thank her, but at least it was better than him being all alone with his thoughts for forty-five years.

"Thirty years? Oh, wow!" Klaus, somehow, still didn't sound genuine. "God, the longest I've been with someone was... I don't know, three weeks. And that's only because I was so tired of looking for a place to sleep." My anger came back as Five jumped, leaving the two of us behind. "He did make the most fantastic _osobuco_ , though. It was..." He finally noticed his brother had disappeared. "Five?" He looked to me, as though I'd know where he had gone.

"I don't know," I shrugged.

"What? Don't you have, like, twin telepathy or something?" I chuckled.

"You would think, considering everything else, but no."

That's when a cab passed by, with Five waving at the two of us from the back window. I glared at him, raising my middle finger high enough so he could see it as he left us behind.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, what about my money?" I sighed, lowering my head and shaking it. We both stood there for a moment, then I tapped Klaus' arm.

"C'mon, let's go."

"What, seriously? You're not mad, Mina?"

"Of course I am, Klaus," I groaned. "But you're not gonna shut up if you don't eat, so let's go get something, hmm?" Immediately, his spirits lifted.

God, he was like a dog.

"Ooh, where are we going?"

"I don't know, wherever."

We got into my car, and I drove us to a diner not far away, trying to get in and out as fast as possible to get Klaus back home. He really shouldn't be out in public for more than two hours-- things start to get weird after that. Still, at least he knew how to have fun, even if it wasn't his genuine self.

He ordered an ungodly amount of food, more than I figured, and I smiled at him until the waitress turned to me. The moment she asked what I wanted, I began to panic. It suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t eaten in public, or with another person, in quite a few years, and the thought that I’d have to at least order _something_ caused my heart rate to spike. Almost immediately, I began to feel dizzy, so I just muttered that I’d just have a side salad and quickly passed the menu back. I hadn’t been given enough time to calculate and look at nutrition information, and this was the safest option

"Mina, what's going on?" Klaus' eccentric demeanor had fallen away, leaving a genuinely concerned brother. "I've never seen you panic like that before."

"Nothing's wrong," I shrugged, trying to play things off.

"Did you have breakfast this morning?"

"Wh-of course I did," I stuttered, trying to calm my heart rate.

"Mina, if something's wrong--"

"Everything's fine, Klaus!" I immediately shot back. "I'm just not hungry, that's all."

He was about to argue with me, when his food arrived, causing him to clamp his mouth shut. He watched me the entire time, but I refused to speak on the matter anymore. The car ride home was filled with tension, devoid of words, and the moment we walked through the door, I headed up the stairs and toward my studio.


	7. Plastic Girl

I sat up straight on the couch, staring at the picture of Dad on the bar with a glass of water in my hands, trembling as they shook. My head still felt like it was going in circles, though my legs had stopped hours ago. This had never happened before-- normally, the dizziness wore off after a couple seconds. But this time, it lingered, threatening to make me puke if I dared to move. The picture of Dad felt as though he were there, staring me down with disappointment, but that was pebbles compared to how my head felt.

My heart jumped suddenly as Five appeared in front of me.

"Jesus Christ!" I felt my stomach churn for a moment as I flinched, but when I moved slowly to attempt and relax on the couch, it subsided, slowly making the world around me come to a halt.

"Sorry, Mina. Didn't mean to scare you."

"What do you mean? How did you think I would react when you suddenly appeared out of thin air?"

"Right..." He looked down at the floor, nodding awkwardly. I started to feel bad, especially after everything that happened earlier. Carefully, I stood up and hugged him.

"I'm just glad you're okay. Where did you even go?" I crouched down, trying to look him in the eye so he couldn't avoid the questions this time.

"I just... needed to clear my mind for a bit." He quickly moved on from the subject, like he always did. "I have to go somewhere tonight, and I was hoping you'll come with me?" I smiled.

"Yes, yeah, of course." I stood up, heading toward the entrance hall. "Where do you need to go?"

"I'll get you the address later, before we go." I sighed, cocking my head slightly and looking at him. Something had happened, or he knew something _would_ happen. Either way, he clearly needed some cheering up right now.

"Hey, come on." I held an arm out, inviting him to come with me. He raised an eyebrow, as though questioning my motives, and just stared for a moment. "You seem down. Let's go play a game."

That made him smile, thankfully. He made his way over to me and hugged my side, coming with me down to the kitchen. It felt like the old days, but back then, I wasn't a good half a foot taller than him. He started to bustle around the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients to make peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches, while I went over to the chest in the hallway and fished through, pulling out an old, time-weathered and loved deck of cards.

"War?" I asked, pulling the dog-eared rectangles out of their box.

"You always lose," he pointed out, setting down the plates at opposite chairs.

"I don't care," I laughed. "Am I not allowed to just play a game with my brother?" He smirked. "Besides, it's purely a game of luck, based completely on how the cards are dealt."

"I just don't think it'll be as fun if I'm winning with no contest." I rolled my eyes, sitting down and shuffling the cards. A few of them fell out of the deck, fluttering to the floor or flying out to the other end of the table, which caused Five to laugh. "You were never the one that shuffled, now I see why."

"Shut up." I got up and gathered up the scattered cards, handing them, along with the rest of the deck, to Five so he could finish shuffling. Once he'd distributed all the cards evenly, we began playing, slamming the cards down as aggressively as possible. That was always the way we played, made the game more entertaining. At one point, my eyes flashed up, and only now did I notice the silver '4' pin on the lapel of his uniform.

"How long was that sitting in the closet?" I asked, gesturing toward the pin. He looked down, as though realizing it was there for the first time, then placed his hand on his next card.

"I never took it off. I've been wearing it this whole time."

I was just reaching for my card when I heard that. I stopped my movements, processing that idea, and felt a warm feeling spread through my chest. I mean, he was my brother, so what did I expect, but it still meant a lot to me that he hadn't cast it aside or, I don't know, traded it at some point in the forty-five years he lived in the future.

"I see you're still wearing that necklace."

We both flipped our cards over. I won, causing me to smirk as I reached for both of them.

"My instructors got mad when I tried to wear it on stage for the first time, but then I explained that it was for my brother, and, you know, what happened... and after that, nobody bothered me about it again."

I'd been so engrossed in enjoying my time with my brother, I hadn't noticed that I'd eaten the entire sandwich in between hands. To anyone else, that would have been completely normal, nothing to scoff at or cause for staring, but for me... it was a much bigger deal.

"Mina?" I snapped my gaze back to him. "You need to draw in order for us to keep playing."

"Right, right." I shook my head, bringing me back to reality. "So, tell me about Delores."

We slammed our cards down. My victory again.

"What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you're willing to tell me." A genuine smile made its way onto his face

"We met the same day I got stuck there. She came with me everywhere I traveled, made the vastness a little less lonely. Sometimes she supported me, sometimes she'd try and talk me down from decisions..." I watched his expression sour a little. "She was always there for me."

"That's really sweet, Five." We picked up our cards. "I'm glad you found someone. When you told me you were the only person alive... I got worried." He waited for a moment, not putting his cards down.

"I, uh... I was going to see her tonight, actually. That's why I wanted you to come with me. I figured it would be good for her to meet my sister."

"Five..." I kept smiling like crazy. "I really do feel like a big sister."

We both put the cards down. This time, he got to take the victory.

"Wait, but how will she even know it's you? Aren't you not supposed to meet for another week?"

"She'll know it's me."

"Oh... kay. Is it gonna be weird for you to just show up?" He shook his head.

"Like I said, she'll know."

"Okay, okay." I looked out the window, spotting heavy sheets of rain bearing down on the earth, as lightning flashed. "I've gotta be careful tonight. Storm's out there." Five looked back, staring out the window. "Wouldn't want to shock Delores."

"We can head out now." I raised an eyebrow. This was a strange time to want to go.

"All right. Let's clean up here first." Five dealt with dishes while I cleaned up the deck of cards, throwing them back into the trunk. We both headed out the door downstairs, climbing into my car and starting toward the address Five had given me. I looked at him, slightly confused, as we arrived, but parked the car in the lot and headed toward the building.

"I'm gonna need you to use your powers, if I'm gonna get you through there." I stared up at the neon red sign again, still confused.

"Five, why exactly are we at Gimbel Brothers?"

"Not important." I shrugged. At least if he was doing something sketchy, I'd be here with him this time. "Gonna be a little hard on the wet pavement, though."

I tried my best to do some neat turns, but I ended up wobbling a bit. Still, my arms tingled just enough for this to work. Five and I had done this a few times before, but it had been a long while. The second I connected arms with him, he jumped, and the power of my electricity pushed us both through. He went over to a shelf and reached for a flashlight, then led me down the women's aisle.

Things suddenly made sense as he stopped in front of one the mannequins, smiling up at her.

"Delores."

Oh, lord... This brought what Dad was telling us about the effects of time travel to a _whole_ new level.

"It's good to see you. I've missed you... obviously. Well, I... It's been a rough couple of days." Five's eyes moved to me, as though he suddenly remembered I was there. "This is my sister, Mina-- the one I was telling you about. I finally got to see her again, and I know you wanted to meet her if you could."

I just sort of... stared up at the mannequin for a few moments, before leaning down to Five.

"Am I supposed to...?"

"No, no."

"Okay, cool." I nodded slowly, both of us standing there in an awkward silence for a while. "So, how long are we--" I watched as Five's eyes widened in horror.

"No!"

Just in time, I spotted two tall, masked figures with large guns standing behind Delores and the other two mannequins. Quickly, I grabbed onto Five, shielding him and dragging both of us behind a rack of clothes. The top half of Delores fell to the ground amid the loud, blinding gunfire. Five poked his head out from behind the clothes, but the moment he spotted the figures, he ducked back behind.

"Oh, shit! It's them." I looked at him, not sure what to think at the moment. He knew these people?

"It's _who_?" I demanded.

"No time for that. Just get ready to fight."

I looked from Five to Delores, then quickly rushed out, crouched down to avoid being hit, and grabbed her, dragging her back to our hiding spot and handing her off to my brother.

"Okay, we're going to need to move now. No doubt those guys saw me come back here." I squeezed his shoulder. "I'll distract them, you get her out of here. I promise I'll catch up."

"Mina--"

"Just go!" He brushed my hand away from his shoulder.

"No. I'm helping you." He turned to Delores, resting a hand on the back of her head. "I'll be right back for you."

"Okay. Come on."

I grabbed his wrist, and the two of us sprinted across the aisle, remaining low in hopes of not getting shot. Unfortunately, we had to head out into the open. We almost got through the gap, when the man in the pink mask appeared, aiming his gun right at us.

"Five, jump!"

He did as told while I sprinted, but one of the bullets ended up piercing my arm. I cried out, bringing my hand to the wound in an attempt to stop blood from leaking out, and I ducked behind one of the shelves near the counter, joining Five in his hiding spot. He reached for a gardening spade, swinging it to see how well that would work as a weapon, then looked to me. The moment he spotted my arm, his eyes widened.

"Did you get shot?" I brought my hand down from the spot by my shoulder, ignoring the blood dripping through the spaces between my fingers.

"Doesn't matter right now. We need to get rid of these guys." I inhaled sharply as another wave of pain struck my arm. "I can't charge up enough to take them out without getting gunned down, but there's a thunderstorm outside. I can probably shock one of them if I get close enough." I got a glance at the two of them. "Probably the smaller one. The big guy looks like he can take a hit."

"That's a bad idea. You hit her, he shoots you." The one in the pink mask was a 'her'. Noted. "I'll hit her with this--" He held up the spade. "--and you shock him. It should stun him for a little, at the very least."

"Okay." I wanted to trust him on this. He'd encountered them before, after all.

I began to chaîné as Five jumped, slashing the woman in the arm and causing her to fall to the ground. The moment the other one began to shoot, I reached him, slamming my arm down on his back. He jumped, and began to stumble around for a moment, disoriented. Five ran past me, dragging me behind him as we serpentined through the aisles. The woman had stood up and was back to shooting at us. Just before we reached the aisle where he had left Delores, he grabbed a large, canvas bag and zipped her up into it.

"All right, let's get out of here."

Five and I got as close to the doors as possible, but when he tried to jump, the air around him just turned wavy, but we didn't go anywhere. He groaned in pain, trying to jump over and over again, but failing. He'd clearly exhausted his powers.

"Five, stop!"

"Shit! Come on!" I grabbed his shoulders, yanking him to face me.

"Stop! You're just going to make yourself pass out, and then we'll never be able to get out of here." Pain suddenly shot through my arm, this time so overwhelming I had to crouch down.

"You need to get out of here and get home. I've got to keep trying."

Before he could try and jump again, the two masked figures caught up to us in our hiding places and started shooting. Five grabbed my arm and tried to help me up, but I was a bit too heavy, so I had to get up myself. We jumped over the shelves by the checkout, and as sirens approached, we jumped behind the counters, getting in as far as we could.

"The bastard jumped again," I heard one of them scoff.

"Come on, let's go."

Once I was sure we were safe, I looked over at my brother, who suddenly took on a disturbed expression. I looked down, seeing more blood on his uniform, and sighed. He'd been shot, too. We both needed to get out of here.

"Are you okay to jump now?" I gasped out, still trying to catch my breath.

Without saying a word, he grabbed my arm and managed to jump out of the store. We rushed to the car, putting Delores in the back and speeding back home to deal with our wounds. Five remained completely silent the entire time, staring out the window. I could've sworn I heard him start to cry, but now wasn't the time to question him on that.

The second I shut the car off, Five grabbed Delores and rushed into the house, leaving me dumbfounded on the sidewalk. After trying to process for a minute, I ran in after him, chasing him up the stairs. I heard him shouting at the top of the stairs before the footsteps resumed. Once I got to the top of the flight of stairs, I stopped in my tracks, turning to see Allison and Luther, who both stared at me in shock.

"Mina, what happened to you two?" Allison asked, staring at my arm.

"It's a long story. I promise I'll fill you in once I... understand."

I turned away from them and rushed to Five's door, finding it shut.

"Five? Can I come in?"

I didn't hear anything, so I knocked lightly before pushing open the door. I found him sitting on his bed, head in his hands. Carefully, I made my way over and sat next to him. I didn't really know how to handle this, since I'd never been in a situation like this before, so I just tried my best. But I didn't get far.

"Kid, you've gotta tell me what's--"

Five suddenly lunged over, wrapping his arms around me and burying his head in my shoulder. I could hear the gasped breaths of sobs, and my shoulder suddenly grew wet with tears. I had never seen Five cry before, so to see him absolutely sobbing and break down... it was jarring.

Thinking it better to let this pass, I squeezed him tighter and leaned my head against his, rocking a little bit.

"Hey, I'm here. I've got you, I'm right here. I'll always be right here."


	8. Spinning Dizzy

_I tried my best to remain invisible as I snuck into the little bookstore in the middle of the strip, hoping my sister wouldn't spot me. I hadn't told her I was coming, and I'm sure if she caught me, she'd stop and think I was here to yell at her, or plead my own case, or something. That wasn't the case. I wanted to support her, in fact, just like she had done for me for so many years of our childhood._

_"We were never a real family. We were our father's creation; family in name, but not in fact."_

_I smiled as she read out loud. Sure, some of the things she had said shocked and hurt me for a bit, but I really couldn't blame her. Dad had forced her out of our lives for so long, she had every right to feel unimportant._

_"Of course, the only_ real _family between any of us were my sister Mina and brother Five. We were told very early on that they were blood related, and my father made sure we always knew that, especially after he disappeared. Even then, he'd discourage them from normal sibling quarrels. In the end, after our brother Ben died, there was nothing really connecting us. Understandably, Mina had distanced herself when Five disappeared, no longer expected to appear at family dinners or attend normal training sessions. We were just strangers living under the same roof, destined to be alone, starved for attention, damaged by our upbringing, locked in our own mental prisons where we blamed ourselves for everything that went wrong..." I grimaced, knowing that line was about me. "...and haunted by what might have been. We all wanted to be loved by a man incapable of giving love. Our father never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was ordinary-- a hard thing for a little girl to hear. If you're raised to believe nothing about you is special, if the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you're not?"_

_She looked up from reading, expression shifting to shock when she spotted me leaning against the door frame. The few people sitting and listening to her read applauded, then got up and began to mill about. I watched Vanya move quickly, clearly attempting to get out before having to speak to me, but I wanted to address everything. I moved past people staring at me, recognizing me either for ballet or because of this, and came to stand next to our sister._

_"Mina." She tried her best to sound surprised, as though we hadn't met eyes just a moment ago._

_"Hey, Vanya." Vanya sighed, slapping her arms against her side._

_"Look, if you're gonna chew me out, can you at least do it outside?" I raised my eyebrows, sticking one hand out to assure her._

_"Oh, no, I'm not here because I'm mad!" She eyed me suspiciously. "I promise. I'm actually was here to congratulate you. After everything you were told, still having the balls to release that... I really think Dad underestimated you."_

_"Thanks..." Vanya looked down, scuffing her feet as her cheeks turned red. She almost seemed ashamed for receiving congratulations, but I wasn't finished._

_"And... I wanted to thank you. You put some really good memories in there." I pointed to the book, silently asking if I could borrow it. She quickly passed it off into my hands, and I flipped to a page that, in my copy at home, had been dog eared, and the spine worn thin from constantly opening to that section. "'Things weren't always bad, despite how I've made it sound. Time off was spent having about as much fun as our father would let us. No one ever really spent time together during those hours... with the exception of Mina and Five. I could always find them playing card games in the kitchen or one of their rooms, sneaking peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches and hiding them on the off chance Dad ever came around. If I happened to walk by, they'd invite me to play. Sometimes, they'd remind me I was still part of the family.'"_

_I smiled, handing the book back to her and squeezing her shoulder._

_"I know things were really hard for you. I can't just make things better after what we did to you, but... I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Now, she looked genuinely surprised. "Anyways, we should catch up sometime." I started to turn away and head out, when she called out to me._

_"I-I'm free right now." I smiled, waiting for her to gather up her things before the two of us headed out the door._

I tried my best not to watch my brother's face as I finished stitching his wound shut. I'd already dealt with mine, biting my tongue as I cauterized and dressed it, tossing away the needle I'd used once I was finished.

I finished the last suture, then clipped the thread and started to clean the blood off the rest of his arm. Neither of us talked about what happened last night, and I figured it maybe wasn't a good idea to ask yet. I had to admit, I was still shaken up over Five's little breakdown. He'd cried for quite a while, before he'd exhausted himself into almost passing out, but I had to keep him up to make sure he wasn't losing too much blood from his wound. Dealing with mine had taken almost the whole night, and although I had protested and tried my best to fix his first, Five insisted mine was more severe.

"There you go. I'm finished," I declared as I stuck a Billy the Choo-Choo bandage on it. "Sorry about the bandage. It's the only kind I could find."

"It's fine." His voice still sounded strained.

"I'm gonna step out so you can change. But after that..." I paused for a second as I stood up and threw the blood-soaked gauze into the garbage. "...I'm sorry, but I need you to tell me as much as you can. I want to help you, but I also want to make sure you're safe... which I understand sounds kind of dumb when you're attempting to prevent the apocalypse."

"Fine," he hissed. I rolled my eyes, trying my best to just brush off his flippancy and attitude as I made my way out and shut the door.

The cold wall felt comforting against my back as I took in a shaky breath, trying to calm my spiking nerves. At first, I thought the end of the world was something I could help my brother with, but now, there were hit men after him. I thought he'd said he was the last person alive, so where the hell did those people come in? Not to mention, they came dangerously close to taking us out last night. If something happened to him, _again_... 

I shook my head, trying to get rid of that pessimism that clawed through all too often. I'd been working on that since I came back here. For whatever reason, being back with my family was helping with everything, even if we all spent the majority of the time fighting with each other. At least we were together, there for support whenever one of us needed it. Still, they looked at me like they did when we were kids. They took on that expression-- where the face softened and they spoke in a bit of a higher voice, reaching out to gently touch me as though I would completely shatter if they applied too much force. 

"Five?" I rapped lightly on the door, hoping I didn't startle him. "You decent?"

My heart rate spiked when I didn't get a response.

"Five, I'm coming in."

Suddenly, all that progress I had been proud of dissolved, regressing back into the narrow mindset I lived my entire life by. My eyes darted around like bees as I scanned Five's entire room, unable to spot him anywhere. He had disappeared again without a goddamn word. He could only do that so many times before... well, this.

Gasping heavily, I sprinted into my room, finding my shoes still slung around one of the posts of my bed. I just needed to get my mind off of all this before I went looking for him, otherwise I'd start yelling-- or worse, never find him. 

Despite my frantic state, I managed to open and shut the door to the studio quietly. I didn't know if any of my siblings were within earshot, but they'd learned the sound of my studio door shutting at this point, and I was sure they'd come running if they heard. The lock made a strange noise, they knew it by heart now. I didn't need them worrying about this, it was nothing. I just had to move, get the panic out of me.

I started with some simple, slow movements and stretches, trying to ease myself in before I started moving quickly. But the slowness gave my mind time to roll back into its own thoughts, and as panic fought its way back into my brain, I sped up, as though the spins and harsh movements would somehow just fix whatever was happening. My movements grew more and more haphazard and breath shortened, and my awareness grew smaller and smaller. My brain didn't register the needles pricking at my fingertips, which quickly turned to a complete, tingling numbness; my knees began to turn to Jello, forcing my legs to wobble. Yet, the whole time, my brain kept screaming not to give up. I had to make sure I wouldn't be knocked down when I got back, and more importantly, I had to banish the dark corners.

Even when my legs gave out, and I tumbled to the ground, I didn't realize I had stopped moving. In fact, it wasn't until Allison found me splayed out that my mind came back to me, and I realized I had done it again.

"Mina?" Somehow, I managed to turn my head and look at her. "Oh, my God..."

She lifted me up, but the moment I tried to take a step, I collapsed again, feeling as though I were made of cement all of a sudden. My body refused to move itself, giving up right there on the floor. This wasn't the first time Allison had seen me like this, but I'm sure she had hoped when we all came back as adults this would have passed.

"Luther!" Allison called, out poking her head out of the door. "Luther, we've got an emergency!"

I don't think I'd ever seen Luther move that fast. For a man of his stature, that honestly was pretty impressive, and I probably would have demonstrated that, had I not been in a vegetative state on the ground. Allison pointed down in my direction, and immediately, his eyes went wide, and he rushed over to pick me up.

"Go get some water, and any sort of food," he ordered her. She nodded and ran out, then Luther looked down at me. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Knowing I couldn't answer at the moment probably pushed him to ask that question, since I wouldn't be able to argue with him. Still, he carried me into the drawing room and set me down on one of the couches. Allison immediately rushed over to me with the glass of water and some sandwich she'd thrown together, helping me drink so I could at least answer. Slowly, my senses came about me, and I looked up at the two of them, who wouldn't stop staring at me like I'd died.

"Mina, how long were you... training?" She always hesitated to call it training because she knew what it really was.

"Doesn't matter," I scoffed. "It's never been long enough before."

Allison and Luther exchanged a glance.

"He's back now. You don't have to keep doing this." I suddenly felt myself getting angry, and I sat up a little straighter.

"You really think it's still about Five? He was just an afterthought." My hands began to tremble as I dared to look up, causing her to flinch a bit as we connected eyes. "Dad always taught me we had to improve—that we had to be better than we were. There’s always room for improvement in everything I do, but what I do has to be perfect. If I can’t be perfect, they’re going to take away what I have. No matter what I do, I’m never good enough, but I can’t just stop trying. And when I’m not good enough, when I step out of line or go back to something, I have to punish myself. The only way I know how to do that is dancing and spinning until my legs give out and I feel like hell.”

Allison waved Luther out of the room, and once he was gone, took a seat next to me. I could tell she was trying to make the tensions dissolve, but I just straightened up a little more, scooting away a bit. 

"Mina, all you’re doing is hurting yourself. I had to learn this the hard way, and now, I’m hoping you will before it’s too late: you will never be perfect.”

"Wow, thanks," I deadpanned.

"Hear me out. You actually can dance, and you're not half bad. But it’s impossible for anyone to be ‘perfect’."

"But I could be better," I growled, my mind floating to the other dancers I'd been forced to compete with. If prompted, I could list off everything they did that I wished I could.

"At least your success is legitimate," Allison scoffed, leaning back a little. I met eyes with her, my curious expression urging her to continue. "You earned what you have because you worked hard and have talent. I..." She looked down again, ashamed. "I cut corners, asked for what I wanted and got it without having to try." This was news to me. 

"Allison, I... wh--" I couldn't surmise a response.

"You don't have to say anything. I deal with the thought of it enough for the both of us..." Allison cleared her throat before offering me a smile. "What I'm trying to say is, even if you're not at the top anymore, at least you still have the talent to match the position. You earned your place. So no more training for a while, okay?"

At least that was the only thing she called me out on.

"Okay." 

She reached over and hugged me tight, something we hadn't done in years. I had to admit, I missed her a lot. She was always on the other side of the country, filming something and unable to talk, but now, we were able to connect again. That was the nice thing about coming home.

"Now, there's some business we need your help with." She leaned her head around, looking out the door. "Luther?" Cautiously, he entered the room.

"I know this might not be what you need to hear right now, but... we think Mom might have had something to do with Dad's death." My eyes widened. "We saw some footage from the security tapes. He started dying and Mom... Mom had touched him just a moment before. And when we talked to her... she seemed like she wasn't quite with it."

"What? That's crazy. It's _Mom_. She's programmed to be a caregiver," I pointed out.

"I don't like this any more than you do, but she's hiding something." I sighed. Luther didn't sound genuine.

"Hiding? To me, she just sounded confused," Allison countered.

"Well, uh... you saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing."

"Grace?" I scoffed. "Last time I talked to you, she was Mom."

"She's a machine, Mina."

"Who read to us and cleaned up after us and put us to bed."

"And then we left her here, alone, in this house for 13 years," Allison added. "I mean, no wonder she lost her mind. To be away from her kids?"

I hesitated, suddenly realizing what this was really about. I didn't want to say anything, at the risk of making the situation worse, but Luther didn't really get that.

"Hey, what happened with... Claire? With Patrick? You never told me."

"Luther," I hissed. I know he had been on the moon, but still, that was insensitive. I looked between the two of them, then stood up, trying to get myself out of this awkward situation.

"Um... if we're gonna continue this discussion about Mom, I think the whole family should be here. So I'm gonna go track down Five and Klaus. Okay? Okay."

Quickly as I could, I ran from the room and replaced my pointe shoes with regular ones, then headed down the stairs and toward my car. I found Klaus outside, standing in a dumpster and digging around for something.

"Klaus?"

He jumped up, snapping around and smiling at me.

"Mina! Hey, your twin went rushing off somewhere with a bag in a van."

I sighed. I knew exactly where he had gone.

"Let's go, you're coming with me. We've got family business to attend to."


	9. Mother!

As I expected, the van Klaus described sat parked across from MeriTech Prosthetics. He was so predictable at this point. I climbed out of my car and approached the brown vehicle, knocking on the window. Five continued to stare off at the building, a horrified look on his face. His mind had gone back into that same place he had last night.

I needed to get in there now.

“Five. Five!” He still didn’t look at me. “Hey, Five. Five!” Klaus climbing in through the back of the van tipped me off that he had left it unlocked, and I slid in right as his head turned toward me finally, still looking as though he’d still seen a ghost. “What are you…?” I slid in and closed the door next to me. “Are you okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned about how he suddenly hardened his expression upon seeing me.

“You shouldn’t be… how did you find me?”

“Um…” I pointed toward the back of the van, where Klaus had started dancing with Delores. I pinched the bridge of my nose, shaking my head as I looked at him.

“Hey, a little privacy, guys. We’re really hitting it off back here.” Five violently chucked a piece of paper at his brother, causing him to scream.

“Get out!” he shouted. “You can’t be here! I’m in the middle of something.”

“Any luck finding our one-eyed man?” Klaus asked, leaning forward to poke his head through the seats.

“No,” Five sighed, growing exasperated. “What do you want, Mina?” I tried my best to remain calm as he got snippy again.

“So, Mom may have had something to do with Dad’s death. I’m not completely sure, things got a little tense before I could get complete details. But we need you to come back to the Academy, all right? It’s important.”

“’It’s important,’” my brother mocked. “You have no concept of what’s important.”

“Hey!” Klaus suddenly interjected, causing both of us to jump a bit. “Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?” I grimaced, absolutely disgusted. “It was so painful.”

“What are you still doing here?” Five demanded. Klaus kept on laughing, but now wasn’t the time to be tolerant. Not when something was really wrong with my _actual_ brother, no offense to him.

“Ay, ay, ay.” I glared at Klaus.

“I—What? I need an excuse to hang out with my family?”

“We’re trying to have a serious conversation.” Now he was genuinely offended.

“What, and I’m incapable of being serious? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Mina’s got a point. You should get out.”

“What?” Although he was angry, Klaus obliged and got out of the van. I watched him cross to my car, and I began my interrogation. I needed answers now; I wasn’t about to let him get around things anymore.

“Five, you have to tell me what’s been going on. You’ve been avoiding the question, and at first I was fine with it, but now there are hit men chasing you, and you know who they are.” I reached out and moved some stray pieces of hair from his eyes. “I still stand by what I told you a couple days ago: I want to help you with all of this. But you’ve gotta tell me what’s going on.” Five slapped my hand away.

“You wouldn’t understand,” was all he muttered.

“Try me. Last I checked, I’m still your sister. I want to protect you. You’ve clearly been through some shit. I really do just want to help.”

“Well, last I checked, I’m 28 years older than you.”

I’d had about enough at this point. Didn’t help that when I turned to look at him, he was wearing this stupid, smug smirk.

“You know what your problem is?”

“Really hoping you’ll tell me.” 

“You think you’re better than us. You always have. Even when we were kids.” He gulped, shaking his head. I could see him fighting back some tears, but he needed to hear this at this point. Otherwise, we’d get nowhere. “But the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us. We’re all you have. And you know it.”

For a moment, his stern glare softened. But only for a moment.

“I don’t _think_ I’m better than you, Number Four. I _know_ I am. I’ve done unimaginable things, things you couldn’t even comprehend.”

“Right.” I tried my best to keep my cool, hoping we would get somewhere with this.

“Just to get back here and save you all.”

Somehow, that broke down a bit of the wall building itself between us. The air lightened just a bit, and finally, my brother looked at me with something that wasn’t blind hatred.

“I’ll tell you everything when I really do need your help, Mina. I promise I’ll come to you. But right now… I just want to make sure I have all the facts straight before I drag you all into something else. After last night… I think it’s better if I start things off on my own.” I scoffed at him. 

“Hell no,” I protested. “We get shot up, we get shot up together. That’s what sisters are for.” He laughed a little.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what normal siblings do.”

“What’s so fun about being normal?”

The division completely came down as we watched Klaus suddenly burst out of the door of the convenience store across the street, holding a multitude of stolen goods and laughing like a maniac. The store owner dashed out only a second later, trailing Klaus until he hopped into a cab and headed toward home.

“Now I’m starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision.” We both suddenly burst out into laughter, unsure of how to take that. It took us a bit to calm down, but once we did, I smiled at him.

“Well, I’ll leave you to all of this, I guess. I’ll just tell the others I couldn’t find you. But if those guys, whoever they are, come back for you, you jump home, okay?”

“Okay.” I side-hugged him, then started to climb out.

“Where did you find this, by the way?” I tapped the roof of the van. Five just raised an eyebrow, telling me everything I needed to know. “And, if the police ask, I didn’t even know you had this.”

With that, I got into my car and drove home, finding the rest of my siblings gathered in the drawing room. Diego shook his head as he watched me walk in alone.

“Where’s Five?” he demanded.

“Don’t know. I tried my best, I couldn’t find him. But we need to deal with this situation, so let’s just get on with it, okay?” I took my place standing next to Vanya, and the two of us exchanged smiles for a moment.

Luther played the footage he and Allison had watched earlier, the one that sparked all this doubt and conspiracy. I had to admit, it looked suspicious, but there had to be another answer. Mom wouldn’t hurt Dad, and not just because it wasn’t in her programming. It didn’t look like she had done anything, plains and simple

“I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?” Vanya asked.

“You haven’t been home in a long time, Vanya.” I glared at Luther. There he went again, acting like he knew more than us. “Maybe you don’t know Grace anymore.”

“If he was poisoned, it would have shown on the coroner’s report,” Diego pointed out.

“Well, I don’t need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.”

“Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision.” Diego approached the screen and rewound the footage, bringing it back to the moment when Mom reached for Dad. “Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle’s gone.” Sure enough, I caught a glimmer in Mom’s hand, the chain of the monocle dangling from her hand.

“Oh, yeah.” I made a face at Klaus as he spoke with a full mouth of chips.

“She wasn’t poisoning him. She was… taking it. To clean it.”

“Then where is it?” Diego’s expression shifted, turning to one that almost indicated guilt, but it was covered in smugness. “No, I’ve searched the house, including her things. She doesn’t have it. She doesn’t have it.”

Diego’s mouth moved a bit, attempting to form some sort of word, before he finally managed to get it out.

“That’s because I took it. After the funeral.”

For once, we all looked at him the same way.

“You had the monocle this whole time?” I scoffed, shaking my head at him. “What the hell, Diego?”

“Give it to me,” Luther ordered, holding out his hand.

“I threw it away.” I exhaled sharply, appalled.

“You what?”

“Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you’d lose your shit, just like you’re doing right now.” Although he had a point, why was that decision to make? Who gave him the right to get rid on one of Dad’s most prized possessions, the identifying article from his person?

“Diego, you son of a bitch.” I quickly stepped in between the two of them, pushing them apart a little.

“Hey. No. Calm down.” Looked between the two of them sternly, trying to diffuse a fight before something else important got broken. “Look, I know Dad wasn’t exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but… also as a protector.”

“What does that mean?” I didn’t like how hostile Allison sounded.

“She was programmed to intervene if someone’s life was in jeopardy.”

“Well, if her hardware is degrading, then… We need to turn her off.” Diego and I immediately jumped on the defense.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She’s not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things, I’ve seen it!”

“She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die.”

“I’m with Luther,” Allison chimed. I rolled my eyes; that didn’t surprise me at all.

“Surprise, surprise,” Diego taunted.

“Shut up.” He looked to me, waiting for me to intervene with something.

“Look, if we have to take sides—which I think is stupid, by the way—then I’m with Diego.”

“Thank you, Mina.” He gestured aggressively in my direction.

“She seems to be functioning just fine, she just got a little confused a couple of days ago. There’s got to be something else going on.” 

“Mina, come on.” I glared at Luther.

“I also just didn’t want to be on your side.” Sure, maybe that was a little childish, but damn, did it feel good.

With that taken care of, both of my brothers stared Vanya down, waiting for her to take a side. She stuttered and bounced her eyes between them, looking as though she were about to explode.

“I—I don’t—“

“Yeah, she shouldn’t get a vote,” Diego interjected. I made my way over to Vanya, standing by her side and facing the rest of our siblings.

“I was gonna say that I agree with you.”

“Okay. She should get a vote.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered.

“What about you, Stoner Boy?” He pointed one of his knives at Klaus, who looked up suddenly. “What do you got?”

“Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh, ‘get out of the van, Klaus,’” he mocked, glaring at me. “’Well, welcome back to the van.’”

“What van?”

“Irrelevant!” I shouted, trying to keep my cover.

“So what’s it gonna be, Klaus?” Luther scoffed.

“I’m with Diego, because screw you!” At least Klaus and I had similar motivations. I had to give him credit for that. “And if Ben were here, he’d agree with me.” I furrowed my brows at him. This wasn’t the first time he’d acted like Ben was still here.

“So the vote’s three to two.”

“Vote’s not final yet,” I reminded Diego.

“What?”

“Five’s not here. The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that.”

“Right.” It felt strange hearing Luther agree with me. That almost never happened, if ever.

“No, we should wait,” Vanya chimed in.

With business concluded for now, everyone split off, heading to do whatever they needed to cool down. Allison and Luther exchanged a look, I knew what that meant. Something told me I wouldn’t be allowed in the studio for a while.

My eyes moved around the room, when I spotted mom in the doorway. My eyes widened as Diego approached her.

“Hey,” he muttered to her. “How long have you been here?” Mom’s eyes remained downcast for a moment, before she looked at Diego, and her whole face seemed to light up.

“You all seem upset. I’ll make cookies.”

We both watched sadly as she headed away and down toward the kitchen. Neither of us moved, not daring to go and try to stop her.

“Do you ever wonder… All those moments with Mom, all the things she said. Like, was it her, or was it really Dad?”

“What are you talking about?” As usual, the mere mention of Dad made Diego hostile.

“Well, he built her. And he programmed her to be a mom, to be _our_ mom. Sometimes when I look at her, I just see him,” I admitted.

“Maybe that was true at first. But she evolved.”

“Well, how do you know?”

“Because Dad only loved himself.” He started to walk out, but after a moment of hesitation, turned back to me. “Where’s your brother, really?” I immediately tensed up.

“What?” He scoffed at me.

“Look, the others might be naïve enough to believe you couldn’t find him, but you forget that I know you. There is not a power on this Earth that could keep you from finding him when he disappears.” I shook my head, turning away and sitting on the couch. Unfortunately, he followed, taking a seat on the table so he could be across from me. “So what’s really going on?”

I smiled a little. Diego had learned to read me after Five disappeared, knew what each of my little micro-expressions meant and what to do when I started freaking out. Sometimes, he felt more like a best friend than a brother, considering how some of the others treated me at times.

“I don’t understand it, actually,” I admitted. “He’s keeping things from me, and he keeps saying that he’ll tell me eventually, but whenever I ask, he… he shuts down. It’s like talking to a snarky wall.” That made the both of us laugh. “I just wish I knew.”

“Hey, look. We all know if there’s anyone in this family Five trusts, it’s you. Even though you were the same age at one point, you were like a big sister to him. We all saw that. But he’s never been the most open book, you know that.”

“I know, I just… something else is happening here, and I’m worried it might cost him his life.” My voice became strained. “I can’t protect him from…” I took a deep breath, shaking my head and trying to push that all aside. “Never mind.”

“Hey.” Diego stood, opening his arms. “Come here.”

He pulled me into a hug, attempting to comfort me for a few moments before I pushed away.

“I’m gonna go lie down for a while.”

_I ignored the alarms blaring outside as I continued to turn, trying to build up my charge before we left. I could hear everyone else rushing around outside, shouting to each other and trying to get everyone to hurry up. As usual, no one came in while I was trying to build up._

_“Mina.” I stopped turning and looked over to Mom, standing in the doorway. “It’s time to go.”_

_“Okay,” I sighed. “Thanks, Mom.”_

She was, to date, the only person that really could make me stop.


	10. Invading the Safe Place

"Mina?"

On instinct, I chucked the book in my hands toward the doorway, trying to hit whoever was there. I didn't stop to think about the fact that the only people here who knew my name were my siblings. After yesterday, I kept worrying those guys in the masks were gonna show up again, and I didn't know how I would explain them to the others.

"Jesus Christ!" Thankfully, Allison jumped out of the way in time.

"Oh, shit." I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. "Sorry, Allison, I thought... Actually, I don't know what I was thinking." She picked up the book and started toward me, holding the now-projectile out to me.

"You're fine. Today's been... tense."

"That's one way of putting it," I laughed. "I will never understand that whole dynamic between Luther and Diego. It's like they're just ready to start a fight with each other."

"They need to fight in order to prove their masculinity, because of course, that's _so_ important," she deadpanned. We both stared at each other for a second, then burst into laughter, thinking about just how ridiculous our brothers could be. "How are you holding up?" I took a breath, stilling my laughs before attempting to answer her.

"I don't know. Everything's so confusing, I'm just trying to make sense of what's been thrown at me these past couple of days." I shook my head, smiling. "Then again, what did I expect when the famous Umbrella Academy golt back together?"

"The fact we haven't killed each other is testament enough to the fact we've changed." Allison reached an arm around my shoulders. "Still, you... I mean, I think it's no secret we were all worried about you. Things when you left--"

"--weren't great," I finished. "Yeah, I know. It was fine for a while, after everyone came back together, but now I'm just freaking out again. I don't know what I'm gonna do." Frustrated, I flopped back on my bed, staring up at my blank ceilings. It was pretty boring when compared to Allison's room, who had demanded her walls be painted pink and completed with posters.

Surprisingly, instead of getting up and leaving, she leaned back and looked at me, smiling.

"You'll figure it out. You've always kept Five and Klaus in line, I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with them." After a moment, she pat my arm, then sat up and started to walk out. "I'm going to find Luther. We'll talk about dinner later, okay?"

"Okay." Of course that's what she was doing.

I wasn't sure how long I had been laying there, staring at the ceiling and mentally attempting to sort things, when I heard more footsteps out in the hall. Whoever it was, they moved slowly, stopping every few seconds, about where our doors would be. I didn't recognize the walking pattern. 

Curious, I got up and slowly stepped into the hallway, looking around in an attempt to find the source. I froze in place when I heard the sound of a gun cocking, and slowly, I turned my head down the hallway. My heart rate spiked at the sight of pink and blue masks, right above those same, dark-blue suits.

How the hell did they find us?

I whipped around as I heard more steps behind me, widening my eyes and flicking my hand across my neck as I met eyes with Diego. He slowed down a little, but still made his way over to me-- exactly what I was trying to prevent. His eyes wandered down the same hallway, and right as he spotted the masked hit men, they began to fire at us. As we ran, parts of the wall around us exploded out, shooting splinters out and onto the floor. Diego halted for a second, removing two knives from that stupid belt thing and throwing them in the intuders' direction. He followed me around the corner, and we both pressed ourselves against the wall, waiting for them to get a little closer. The moment the bigger one came around the corner, Diego lunged for him, while I went for the smaller one-- the one that was supposedly a woman. When I tried to kick her in the head, a throbbing pain suddenly overtook my foot.

Their masks were metal. Wonderful. That explains why the knives didn't work.

"Cha-Cha! Shoot him!" the bigger one shouted, his voice muffled slightly underneath his mask.

"Get out of the way, dumbass!"

I grabbed Diego's wrist and yanked him down the stairs as the woman-- Cha-Cha, I think is what the other one said-- began shooting in our direction. We made a mad dash toward where the drawing room was, but we were a floor above it, meaning we'd have to jump. My eyes darted around until I spotted a furl of silk, still looking strong enough to support my weight. Dad had Mom put some of these in for my training, but I rarely used them, because very few of the missions we ever went on had banners in the building that I could use that skill for. Still, right now, I was grateful they were there. 

Diego jumped over the railing, landing face-first on the couch, while I swung down and landed on the tile, releasing the silk and leaving it there. Who knows, maybe it'd come in handy right now?

We both slid behind the buffet table, attempting to catch our breath as the shots ceased. I dared to bring my eyes up, only to see bullet holes littered throughout Dad's portrait. Diego's face took on a sour expression right as footsteps approached. We tried to move out from out hiding spot, but they immediately spotted us and began shooting in our direction. Some of the bullets came dangerously close as Diego and I covered our heads, trying to avoid getting hit before we got back out there.

Abruptly, the gunfire stopped, the sounds of blows landing taking their place. Slowly, I peeked my head up, spotting Allison and Luther taking down the intruders.

Thank God.

The two of us jumped up from our hiding spot as the bigger man's hand wrapped around Allison's throat, beginning to cut off her air supply. Diego jumped on his back and pounded his fists into the guy's back, while I tried my best to kick him and sweep his legs out from underneath him. But he was like a rock-- nothing either of us did made even a dent, until Luther came over and punched him. They were matched in strength, and thus, his grip on Allison immediately released. I reached out and helped her as she stumbled while Luther threw the man into the hall, completely smashing the table.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Allison gasped out. I must have made some sort of noise, because suddenly, everyone's eyes turned to me. I stared at them for a moment, a deer in the headlights, before my shoulders slumped a bit and I answered.

"I don't know who they are exactly, but they came after Five last night. _He_ knows who they are, but every time I ask, he shuts down." I rested my hands on my hips and looked out toward the entrance hall. "No doubt they're here for him... and recognize me, at this point."

"Okay, we don't have time for Five's weirdness."

"You're welcome," Luther called out to Diego.

"I was doing fine." I shot my brother an unamused glare.

"Oh, yeah, you really had them--"

"Ever hear of rope-a-dope?"

All of us suddenly ducked as the hit men in the hall started shooting at us again. They just didn't give up...

"Get out of here! Go!" Luther ordered.

I rushed for the basement, heading to the little game room Dad had set up right near another exit from the house. Cha-Cha was right on my tail, aiming for my head. I shrieked a little every time a bullet came a little too close, trying my best just to lose her. I quickly rounded the corner, with a little bit of a lead, but not much. I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs, and as I panicked, my eyes darted around until I spotted the billiards table. I slid underneath and tried to keep my breaths quiet until I watched her round the corner. While she preoccupied herself looking behind one of the counters, I reached up and grabbed one of the billiards sticks, setting it up so that when she walked this way, if she wasn't paying attention, she'd trip. Thankfully, it worked, and once the wooden stick snapped in half, I shot up from my hiding place.

Cha-Cha began to swing the broken halves of the billiards cue in my direction as I held my arms up, attempting to block her. Each strike stung horribly, and she moved fast, to the point where the second one of my arms lowered, she managed to graze my lip. I felt blood start to run down, but I didn't have time to focus on that. My rage grew as I stood up, staring her down with fists clenched. I spotted Diego out of the corner of my eye, sprinting down the stairs.

"You wanna shock this psycho?" He almost sounded like he was taunting me, but I wasn't about to give in.

"I don't need to because this bitch just pissed me off."

"We just want the boy..." As I suspected. No way in hell was that gonna happen. 

"Oh, well in that case."

I thrust my arms out, hand-springing toward her and kicking her arms. She grunted in pain, but immediately went to swinging again. I leaned back, just narrowly avoiding her fists, then shot up, kicking my leg up in an attempt to get her mask off. Without that, she lost the main thing protecting her from harm, and we might actually be able to take her down. Of course, that proved easier said than done, as she began to overwhelm me with punches and blows, causing my arms and legs to ache. I could feel my head starting to get foggy, and my limbs tingling not with electricity, but with the threat of collapse.

This was the _worst_ time for this to happen.

I panted as she kicked my head, causing me to spin down and land against the table. I gasped heavily, trying to keep the inevitable collapse away, as I reached for a knife. Diego managed to fight her off with a pole from the Foosball table, and I somehow got up, passing the small weapon to him.

"Get her," I ordered, glaring angrily as she tried to run up the stairs. All Diego had to do was throw the knife, and it curved perfectly, striking her right on the back of her thigh. She cried out, pausing for a moment, then ran the rest of the way up. "Come on!"

We trailed her, and Diego and I broke off. I followed her up to the balcony, while Diego went to go check on Allison and Luther.

"Vanya, get out of here!" I heard Luther shout. I looked down to see him fighting with the larger man, looking toward the drawing room. In one swift motion, the large man flipped Luther, stunning him momentarily, and got up, heading toward the drawing room.

"Shit..."

I sprinted in that direction, and right as he entered the doorway, I jumped down, grabbing the silk and bending in half. My body swung out, and I'd build up just enough force that when I struck him, I managed to knock him back. I gripped the silk for another moment as I spun down, and when he met eyes with me, I held a hand up. I had just enough of a charge to cause my fingers to spark, and the moment he saw that, he turned on his heel and ran. I probably would have tried to strike him if Luther wasn't still down. Instead, I flicked my wrists to discharge and ran to him, meeting up with Diego and Allison. It took all three of us to help him up, and even then, we still stumbled.

"Ah, you gotta cut that fast food, soldier," Diego joked.

All of us looked up, spotting Cha-Cha staring down at us, like a ghost from a horror movie eyeing its future victims, before she rushed to the electrical box and stuck the knife that Diego had stabbed her with into it. The chandelier above us began to flicker before the chains loosened.

"Out of the way!" 

Luther violently shoved the three of us out of the way a split second before the fixture fell on him. My eyes widened as I stared at my brother, crushed underneath the heavy object and motionless. But that's not what shocked me.

As expected, he was strong enough to lift it off him, but as he did, the fabric of his jacket tore away. I stared in horror at his chest, mutated and scarred, and appearing to be that of an ape.

How... how the hell... and when...? 

Before any of us could ask, he sprinted up the stairs, attempting to hide from our eyes. I'm sure Allison would have gone after him, had she completely processed what was going on. I don't think any of us knew how to deal with this. 

I walked up to my sister, eyes still practically popping out of my head. At this rate, the adrenaline was probably the only thing keeping me up.

"Did you know?" She glanced up at the staircase again.

"No."

"Shit. Mom." Diego made his way upstairs, going to check on Mom, who I could faintly hear humming from her charging spot on the balcony. I tried my best to follow Allison into the drawing room, deciding it better not to sit down as she got Vanya a wet rag to deal with her wound.

"Who were those guys?" she asked as she put the cloth over the bloody spot.

"I don't know exactly. All I know is they're after Five-- and we're lucky to be alive." Allison leaned forward a little, eyeing her sister carefully.

"You sure you're okay?" Vanya nodded, attempting to assuage our fears. Diego came marching back in, taking in shaky breaths and refusing to sit still. I tried to open my mouth, but my throat had gone completely dry. "Diego?" He stopped his pacing, staring at Vanya with that same hatred he loved to throw at her.

"What are you still doing here?" he demanded. 

"I'm just trying to help."

"No, you could've been killed. Or gotten any of us killed." He turned to Allison and I. "She is a liability." Vanya remained silent for a moment, as though trying to process, before looking to me. I tried to protest, but all I did was gasp, 

"Allison?" She remained silent for a moment, trying to find the best way to phrase what she was thinking.

"I think that what he's trying to say is that this kind of stuff is dangerous," she stuttered. "You're just--"

"Not like you," Vanya finished angrily. Reaching her breaking point, she stood from the couch, heading out the doors without saying another word. Allison tried to follow her, calling out to our other sister.

"No, that's not what I-- Vanya, wait."

"Let her go. It's for the best."

Just as Allison came back, the adrenaline completely left me, and my legs gave out beneath my body.

"Diego!"

He shot up from his seat just in time to catch me underneath my arms.


	11. Down a Peg

A deep pit of dread settled in my stomach at the thought of going downstairs and confronting my siblings. After last night, I’m sure they’d launch a full-on interrogation, and I just didn’t have the right answers, nor did I want to provide any about my physical state. For a moment, I considered turning back into the version of myself I was when we were children. I could hide out, avoid them and just go look for Five, help him out with his problem. They’d gotten used to it when we were kids, would it really be so strange to them if it happened again?

But eventually, you have to grow up and face the music.

Ignoring every fiber of me begging me not to get up, I pushed my body out of bed and got dressed. I had to force my legs down the stairs, and sure enough, when I got to the drawing room, the three siblings I expected were sitting there, waiting for me. I guess we just casually weren’t going to address the fact that Luther is now part monkey, but in the grand scheme of things, that really wasn’t important. He had the bravery to get up and face all of us, I should, too. Otherwise, I’d just be putting off the inevitable.

I took a slow seat on one of the chairs, keeping my eyes downcast as the tension only thickened the air I was breathing in. I could feel the weight of the emotional consequences pushing down on my head. No one dared to speak for a while, occasionally clearing their throats or scuffing their foot, as though waiting for someone else to start this conversation. I started to drum my fingers on my lap, attempting to keep the fear of the moment from reaching inconsolable levels, when Allison finally spoke.

“Mina, last night…” She cleared her throat again, proving to me she didn’t want to do this any more than the others. Allison looked to get brothers, lost for the first time in years. Luther nodded at her, then took a seat beside me, trying to keep his facial expression soft.

“We just have some questions, that’s all.” I laughed a little, the bitterness behind it ringing loud and clear.

“First of all, are you okay now?” Allison handed me a glass of water as she spoke before quickly backing away. What did she think I was going to do?

I guess flip it. I _had_ flipped dishware once before… But I wasn’t angry right now, just terrified. Could I put the thoughts into the right words? Would they even understand what I was talking about? Allison had tried to understand the other day, but I didn’t tell her everything behind it.

“Yeah, yeah… I feel fine.” Everyone fell back into that awkward silence. We’d never had this much trouble talking to each other before. But I guess when you’re touching the nerve of a sibling who had already been pretty fragile, you make sure you’re careful about what you say.

“You collapsed after a little fight,” Diego pointed out. “You exercise the most out of us; if anyone should be able to handle a that sort of fight, it’s you.”

“Mm-hmm.” I’d started to shake a little.

“Look, Mina, we’ve all noticed you’re not… exactly in the healthiest state right now.” Something about Luther saying that felt really degrading. “You told Allison and I it was because of dance, right?” I continued to stare at him, rather than answering. He looked to both his siblings for help, and after another moment, Diego sighed and took a seat across from me.

“I’m gonna tell you how we see things, okay? And you’re not going to like it, I already know that, but we just need you to understand where we’re coming from.” Unlike the other two, I didn’t look at him with contempt as I nodded. “Regardless of the fact that he’s back, you still blame yourself for Five disappearing. That’s why, when he sneaks out or you don’t know where he is, you push yourself. Right?”

“Y-Yeah,” I whispered.

“And whatever else is going on with him, you feel like you’re responsible for that.” He moved his head down a little more as my gaze fell. “I don’t know how to put this in a nicer way, so I’m just going to say it: you obsess over the sort of things you can’t control, to the point where it consumes you. You can say that you get paid better if you have a higher standing at your dance company, or if you were quote-unquote perfect, but we both know it’s not that much more.”

“Besides, Mina, you _are_ talented.” I stiffened again.

“Allison already tried that routine.”

“And now, you’re hearing it from another person.”

“Two other people,” Diego chimed in.

“That has to mean something.” I rolled my eyes at my brother.

“You’re not great at this, you know. None of this feels like sincere concern, it just feels like you’re doing it because Diego and Allison told you to.” I felt a little disturbed as he took Diego’s place. I wasn’t used to him attempting to actually connect with me.

“Mina, you’re my sister. Regardless of how often we disagree, when something’s wrong, I’m… I get worried.”

For whatever reason, that pushed me over the edge. I felt overwhelmed, like my sensory intake suddenly exploded, and the twenty-nine-year-old woman sitting in a chair started to cry. My siblings stood there awkwardly for a moment, then all started to gather around me, pulling me into a family hug.

“I just… I feel like everything in my life has been out of my control… and now… there are these little things I’ve learned I _can_ control… I just became so obsessed with being what I deemed perfect because it was something I could do, not something up to you or dad or Five. There was finally something on _my_ terms.”

“We know,” Luther muttered.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” I kept at it for a few more minutes, then slowly, the shame died down, and I was left with the reassurance of my family. I sniffled, wiping my eyes, then awkwardly started to laugh, attempting to dispel the tension. “So… I guess we have to go gather everyone up?”

“Yeah…” Diego straightened a little more. “You know wherever Five is camped out, so we should start there, and Allison is going to get Vanya.”

“I’ve got to go take care of something first, but I’ll meet with you guys in a bit.”

“Sounds good.” I paused for a moment, waiting for Diego to head out before I spoke to Luther. “But I want to try and figure out what’s going on before we go. If it can wait a few minutes… God, this sounds bad, but I’d like to do some digging.”

“You mean go through his shit?” I hissed through my teeth as I inhaled, grimacing a little bit.

“Yes…?” Luther chuckled.

With that, the two of us broke off toward the rooms. On the way, we passed by Mom’s charging station, and for a moment, my heart stopped.

She sat there, head slumped down and eyes vacant, her arm split open. All of her inner workings had gone dark, leaving her nothing more than a shell of the caretaker she used to be. I stared for another moment, feeling as though the world had stopped, before my head came back to me, and I headed up to Five’s room. Luther started to look through things, because I felt weird digging through my brother’s possessions, but the longer we were at it, the more I began to have my doubts that we would find any information.

“Like I said, Luther, Five hasn’t lived in this room since we were kids. The more I think about it, the more I realize how stupid it is that he would have any sort of information in here.”

“Yeah, I know, but we need to warn him. He doesn’t even know we were attacked.” I looked down, shaking my head.

“He still won’t tell me who those guys are. I don’t get it.”

“He doesn’t know they’re looking for him, he doesn’t know—“

“What are you doing here?”

I immediately tensed. Wherever Diego had gone… something happened. He was angry now, I could see it.

“Uh…” Luther stood up slowly. “Do you know about Mom?” Diego looked away, trying to fight back whatever just bit at him. 

“Looks like you got what you wanted, one way or another, right?” Neither of us knew what to say, looking to each other and shrugging. I wasn’t used to being on Luther’s side of things, it felt strange. “Wanna tell me what you’re doing here?”

“Trying to figure out what’s going on with Five. Let me guess, you’re gonna save the day.”

Oh boy, here it goes…

“It’s what I do. Asshole.”

“Really? Last I checked, you mopped floors.” I looked at Diego in shock. He told me he did a few things, but mopping the floors? I felt bad, in all honesty.

“And what do you do? Sit on the moon for four years, waiting for orders?” I stood up a little straighter as they got closer to each other.

“Guys, this won’t help us find Five,” I snapped, trying to bring them out of their hostile trance.

“Keep on being a loyal soldier after everything our father did to you?”

“What? You mean save my life?”

“No, I mean… turn you into a monster.” I flinched, jumping back as Luther punched Five’s armoire, driving his fist clean through before pulling it back out as though nothing happened. At least he didn’t hit Diego, I suppose. “Can’t hide it anymore champ.”

“He had a difficult decision to make, and he made it.”

“Grow up, Luther. We’re not 13 anymore.”

“That’s what leaders do, by the way.”

“He sent you on that mission alone. Almost got you killed.”

“Yeah, well at least he was there. Where were you? You and everyone else in the family? You walked out.”

“And thank Christ that I did, or I would have ended up just like you.” Luther paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. “Let me ask you a question. When you watch one of those nature shows…”

I knew where this was going, and tried to cut him off.

“Diego, please,” I hissed.

“…does it turn you on?”

“So what? Is Pogo just an animal to you, too now, Diego, huh?” That was it. Have their own little quarrels, whatever, I don’t care, but the moment he brings someone like Pogo into it? That jumped over the line.

“Enough!” I snapped, slamming a foot down on the ground. They both jumped, not used to this sort of outburst from me before. It had only happened once before, when we were 13, and even then, it had been mostly wordless. “This house was attacked. We barely got out with our lives. And Mom… she wasn’t so lucky. Our brother is missing, _my_ brother is missing, and this is how you rise to the occasion? Go take your nonsense somewhere else; I’d rather go looking on my own and hit a wall than have to deal with you both fighting the entire time.”

“Sorry, Mina.”

“Yeah, sorry, Mina.”

“You promise to stop fighting with each other, at least until _after_ we find Five?” I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow at them.

“Yes…”

“Good. Let’s go get my brother. Clearly this is a dead end.”

I marched out, leading them to my car and driving downtown to MeriTech Labs and parking across the street. I immediately jumped out and rushed down the street a little, letting out a sigh of relief as I spotted the brown van, camped out in the same place.

“This is it,” I told them. “He’s still here. This is Five’s van.”

“Go, go.” Luther tried his best to open the door, but of course, Five had locked the van before he left. Diego sighed at his brother, glaring at him before removing one of his knives from his belt and picking the lock. They both tried to climb in at the same time, further proving to me that if I hadn’t come with them, there is no way they’d be able to get anything done.

“Oh, my God, you two are impossible.” I pushed them out of the way and climbed in, making my way toward the back of the vehicle, where I started to dig around. He’d taken Delores with him, wherever he’d gone, meaning it was likely important… or dangerous. Then again, I’m not quite sure he went anywhere without that mannequin.

And that would have been a lot sweeter if she were a real person.

He’d left the bag that he carried her in a couple nights ago here, and when I opened it up, I found a copy of Vanya’s book laying in the bottom. Curious, I opened up the front cover, finding it littered with complex equations and a few ramblings. These must be the equations he had been muttering about, the ones that got him back here. That’s what mattered… all of this brought my brother back. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. 

My eyes wandered to the cover page, spotting a distinct stamp on it.

“I know where to find Five.”

I tucked the book under one arm, then slid open the bigger door near me and jumped out, waiting for my brothers to climb out before getting into my car and heading to the Argyle Street Public Library. It was surprisingly busy, bustling with people on all levels with large stacks of books in their arms. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched them, wishing, for a moment, that I could have had their lives.

“Let’s split up,” Luther suggested.

“Wow. Good thinking.” I smacked Diego’s arm, furrowing my brows at him.

Every time the three of us headed up to the next floor, we ended up running into each other, causing Luther and Diego to stare at each other before immediately heading off in the other direction. It wasn’t until we reached the top floor that they finally acknowledged each other, albeit with some hostility.

“Anything?” I shook my head, leaning against the railing.

“No.” Luther sighed, still pacing around, as though Five would suddenly appear. “You wanna know why I left?”

“Oh boy…” I muttered.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Why I left the Academy.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you couldn’t handle me being Number One.” Diego took a place next to me, taking on my same posture.

“No. Because that’s what you do when you’re 17. You move out, become your own person, grow up.” He was right. That was a small part the reason I had left: I felt too old to be living with my Dad anymore. Of course, the bigger problem had been solved at this point.

“Oh, yeah. You’re a real grown-up,” Luther deadpanned.

“At least I make my own decisions. You’ve never had to hold down a job. Pay bills." Diego paused for a moment, sounding as though he were almost laughing at Luther. "You ever even been with a girl?” My eyes widened and snapped downwards. That escalated out of nowhere.

“I…” Luther stuttered for a while, unsure of how to answer. But his floundering spoke volumes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about—“

“Look, you wanna blame me, blame _us_ —“ I felt slightly uncomfortable as Diego gestured between the two of us. “—for leaving… that’s okay. But maybe you’re asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it’s not about why we left. Maybe it’s about why you stayed.” Diego actually made a really good point—and it helped that he almost seemed to be softening up on Luther a little bit.

“I _stayed_ because the world needed me.” And there went all our progress.

“You stayed because you couldn’t let go of the way things used to be. The Academy. Dad. With Allison.”

I tried my best to hold back a reaction. I mean, I know we all weren’t _technically_ related, but we were raised as siblings. That whole dynamic between the two of them… it just didn’t feel right.

“Dad’s dead. Mom too, now. We’re orphans again, dude.” I heard the elevator ding, and watched as a frazzled woman exited, walking quickly toward an office. “And things are never gonna go back to the way they used to… be.”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Diego and I exchanged a glance, suddenly catching on to what the other had realized.

“Where are his parents?” I heard a woman demand.

And we’d found him. We both turned around and headed toward the stairs.

“Wow, that was easy.”

I sprinted down the stairs, heading right into the back corner of the little balcony. I felt both relieved and disappointed as I spotted the figure leaned against the wall, fast asleep with his arm around a mannequin, surrounded by books and a completely emptied bottle of vodka.

“Is he, um…?”

“Drunk as a skunk,” I sighed. “Come on. I’ve got Five, Diego, you get Delores.” I could _feel_ his and Luther’s confusion.

“Delores?” I reached down and picked up my brother, then turned to them, keeping my face calm.

“Yeah—the mannequin. Luther, get the books and the bottle.” They both kept their eyes on me as they picked up the items I’d ordered them to.

“You’re surprisingly calm about all this, Mina,” Diego observed. I shrugged a little, trying my best not to disturb my sleeping brother.

“I’m trying to just roll with it at this point. Besides, I’m just glad we found him for now. And hey, bonus—Delores is with him. That’s everything we needed to find taken care of.” They shook their heads.

“You two have always been weird.”


	12. The Hit Man

Night had fallen by the time Diego drove us to wherever we were going. I had sat in the back of my car with Five and Delores, pushing him back up as he occasionally fell over. Every now and then, he'd wake up for a second, mumbling something incoherent before passing out again. I took a closer look at my brother, surprised at the deep dark circles under his eyes. Had he even slept these past couple of days? I understood stopping the apocalypse was important, especially because it was drawing closer and closer, but not at the expense of his health. 

Just before I got him out of the car, he fully woke up, looking over at me with a big, goofy smile.

"Hey sis," he slurred, shaking his head. "What are you doing here?" I rolled my eyes and picked him up, making sure Delores was safely cradled in his arms. "Delores says hi too."

"Oh, my word," I muttered. "We found you in the library. We're taking you to a safe place now. But we need answers from you, okay?"

"Mm-hmmmm..." His head lolled to the side a bit.

"So, where exactly are we going?"

"Well, we can't go back to the house." I shifted my arms a bit as my brother started to fall. "It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment."

"My place is closer." Ah-ha. So that's where Diego was leading us. "No one will look for him there."

My nose crinkled in disgust as Five belched.

"If you vomit on me..." I warned.

"You know what's funny?" His voice still drawled a bit, but at least the majority of the slurring had stopped. "Aah! I'm going through puberty. Huh. Twice. And I..." He laughed at himself. "I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye." 

I had to admit, it was strange seeing him like this. I'd never seen my brother act this childish for as long as I could remember.

"Poof. It's gone." Like a light switch, he changed his focus. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night-- the same ones that came after us at Gimbel Brothers," I explained.

"They came looking for you," Diego added.

"So I need you to focus. What do they want?"

"Hazel and Cha-Cha," Five muttered. That answered absolutely nothing.

"Who?"

"You know I hate code names." I looked to Luther, one eyebrow raised.

"That is weirdly specific, Luther."

"Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course."

I kept following behind Luther and Diego, focusing more on what was being said now than walking.

"The best of what?" I asked shakily. Diego looked back at me for a second, as though trying to figure out what exactly had set me off. To be honest, I couldn't put my finger on it, either, but something about all of this felt _very_ wrong.

"You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink." Even intoxicated, he was amazing at dodging the question.

That statement brought up something more worrying for me, however. Sure, Delores couldn't actually talk, that only happened in Five's mind, but the fact he recognized he drank too much... and he was young too. This kid had really been put through the ringer.

"She said it made me surly--"

"Hey!" I snapped, bringing his gaze back up to me.

"Hm? Yeah?"

"I need you to focus." I propped him up a little more, looking my brother dead in the eyes. "What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?" He still didn't answer, instead just smiling stupidly at me. "We just want to protect you," I assured him. Almost immediately, his expression turned, hardening as he glared at me like I'd just insulted him.

"Protect me," he mocked. "I don't need your protection, Mina. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed?" I kept my expression stern and stone-like, despite how much those words jarred me inside. "No. I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen." He thrashed suddenly. "The apocalypse is coming."

"Yeah, I know, you--"

Before I could finish my statement, he threw his head to the side and puked, releasing a vile smell into the air. I bit my tongue, looking up at Luther and Diego with a sigh.

"How close are we?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"We're almost there, don't worry." I shifted my brother's head back upright, keeping a close eye on him as Diego led us through the back door of a boxing gym. Although confused, I followed him through the hallway, and things fell into place when he opened the door to the boiler room, revealing a small bedroom set up. "Go ahead and put him over there."

I nodded, making my way over to the bed, and set Five down. He had passed out again, peacefully unaware of the panic he had suddenly caused me. He'd gone completely silent, the eye movement behind his lids indicating he had completely fallen asleep. After a moment, Diego made his way over, cocking his head at the sleeping kid.

"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep," he thought aloud.

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Back to his normal, unpleasant self." Luther patted my shoulder gently, as though attempting to reassure me that things would be fine. Disturbed, I quickly brushed his hand away and crossed to the corner of the room, facing the wall so they couldn't see my shifting expression.

"Yeah, I can't wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies." I bit down on my nail, still mulling everything over.

"All that stuff he was saying before... What do you think he meant by that?" I shrugged, suddenly not possessing the energy to even talk. Diego's head suddenly shot up, looking toward the door. As footsteps approached, he held up a finger to silence Luther and I and crept toward the door. After a moment of waiting, he threw the door open, preparing to chuck a knife out.

"You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressing charges!" A voice threatened. Diego relaxed and stepped aside, opening the door wider. An elderly man entered, holding a legal pad of paper.

"What do you want, Al?"

"I ain't your secretary."

"Yeah."

"Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."

"What lady?" he asked as he made his way back down the stairs. He didn't seem to care all that much, which didn't surprise me at all.

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective." That piqued his interest. "I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or something."

"Patch," Diego corrected. "She needs my help." Immediately, he started rushing for the door, the issue suddenly of the utmost importance to him.

"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun." Diego took the paper from the man's hand, reading over it carefully.

"When?"

"About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother."

We all looked to Five, confused. He was right there; we'd found him this afternoon. Who the hell had she--?

It clicked for all of us suddenly. How we'd managed to completely ignore the fact we hadn't seen this guy all day honestly surprised me.

"Klaus," we all sighed.

"Go, I'll wait here with..." Diego slammed the door shut. "...Five and Mina."

Luther moved and took a seat in a chair near me, and once he was out of the way, I began to pace, eyes downcast. I could feel Luther watching me, but I really didn't care at this point. Attempting to make sense of all of this made my brain feel like it was set to explode. Five had gotten himself mixed up in some deep shit, and I still couldn't completely understand it all. Whoever he had become, he wasn't the brother I remembered from 17 years ago. Sure, he'd always been sharp and snarky, but he wouldn't ever hurt someone unless he had to, and now... now he was talking about how he had killed people? How do you make such an abrupt turn in your personality?

I stopped short for a moment, my eyes moving over to my brother with worry. I didn't want anything to happen to him, not after he'd just come back, but every time I offered him help, he falsely agreed to take it and went back to trying to solve everything on his own. Whatever happened today clearly was a breaking point for him.

"Mina?" I whipped around, making my eyes a little wider as I looked up at Luther. "Talk through what's on your mind." I wanted to chew him out for ordering me around, but honestly, right now I just needed to get everything out.

"How did everything get to this point?" I sighed, my voice already breaking. "The apocalypse, hit men, Five getting wasted and falling in love with a mannequin... God, I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the simple missions when we were younger."

"He's drunk, Mina. He doesn't know what he's saying." I shook my head.

"He's brought up the apocalypse before, a few times. I completely believe him on that... which means he can't be lying about the others parts, either." I tried to dispel the sharp pain in my chest as I inhaled. "He's caught up in something bigger than him, and he won't tell me the truth-- the whole truth. It's like all of a sudden, I'm just useless, like he doesn't need me anymore." I scoffed at myself. "I've always had that over-protective, older sister instinct, now at least it's justified."

"It's always been justified. He gets cocky and ends up hurting himself in the process, you just helped make sure he didn't die."

"And look how well I did that. God, I'm such a shit sister." Luther stepped closer.

"Whoa, whoa, don't say that. You've been doing the best you can, but you know Five. Whatever happened is the past-- or the future?" 

"It's all confusing," I sighed.

"At this point, that can't be changed. But it's clear whatever this Hazel and Cha-Cha do, he doesn't associate with them anymore. That's already progress, right?"

"I suppose... this is all just so screwed up." 

I didn't protest as he pulled me into a hug, needing the comfort more than I wanted to be mad at Luther for being arrogant most of the time. I took deep breaths, attempting to calm myself as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other a few times.

"I just want to help him, and I want to keep him safe."

"I know, Mina. We all do." I raised an eyebrow at him as he released me.

"You're sure doing a great job of showing it," I deadpanned.

"You've always had a better tolerance for his shit than the rest of us. You're understanding and patient with him. That's why he opens up to you more, and why he asked you for help first. It's not just because you're blood, okay? If you were a dick to him, that blood would be the only thing tying you two together. Regardless of our relationships to each other, you and him act the most like siblings." He reached over and pulled up a chair. "Now, you need to take a break, get some rest. When he wakes up, maybe he'll talk." 

I stared at the wooden chair for a moment. I tried to close my eyes, but I could only drift in and out of sleep for a while before completely collapsing. When I came to again, the sun had come up, and Luther and Five were talking quietly. I shot up suddenly when I registered that Five was actually awake and with it again. He offered me a smile, one without the usual snark.

"Sleep well?" he asked, moving over a little bit to make room for me to sit next to him. I stood up slowly, everything aching from the uncomfortable position I'd been in, and made my way over.

"Sure," I sighed. "What's up?"

"Ah, I just told Luther about our big predicament here." I nodded slowly. 

"The apocalypse."

"Right." He turned back to Luther, focusing on the conversation they'd been having prior to me waking up.

"When's it supposed to happen?" Luther asked. I could see the confusion on his face, as though he still didn't believe any of this. "This... apocalypse."

"I can't give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather, we have four days left." Shit. Time was flying by a little too fast.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It wouldn't have mattered." I leaned down a little, trying to meet my brother's eyes.

"Of course it would. We could have banded together and tried to stop this thing." I know he had already told me, but the others should have known before now. Hell, some of them _still_ didn't know. 

"For the record, you already tried." I watched him pick at his fingernails, only looking up at Luther and I for a second at a time before taking his gaze back down.

"What do you mean?"

Five remained silent for a while, and I watched as his face took on that same expression it had a few nights back, before he'd started crying. This time, I saw him fight down the tears, but the verge made me equally as worried. 

"I found all of you. Your bodies."

For a split second, my heart stopped. Our bodies? Meaning we... we didn't...?

The initial shock of learning out fates slowly faded away, leaving me more horrified with the fact Five had to find that, when he likely was already lost and confused. 

"We die?" Luther's voice rattled a bit as he asked. He normally was so stoic, hearing him fearful just didn't seem right.

"Horribly." I almost felt as though I were about to get sick, but I held it back, for the sake of hearing my brother out. "You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world." 

"Wait, how do you know that?" Five removed the eye from his pocket, holding it out toward Luther.

"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you." He tossed it to him, allowing him to get a better look at the object of importance. "Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down."

"Whose head?"

"Like I said, I don't know." Luther turned it over in his hand.

"Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try--"

"No, that's a dead end," I interjected, remembering what happened when Five tried that approach.

"It's just another hunk of glass." 

Luther handed the eye back to Five right as Diego threw the door open, muttering and cursing to himself. I felt my muscles tense as he stormed in our direction, shooting up quickly.

"Piece of shit. Do you have any idea what you just did?" I grabbed Diego by his waist and pulled back as he lunged for Five, keeping him from laying a finger on my brother. Whatever happened, this needed to be talked out. We were getting somewhere, finally, and I wasn't about to let Diego ruin that. "Nope, let me-- get your hands off me!"

"I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down," I lied. Honestly, if he pushed any harder, I was going down. If that happened, I hoped Luther would step in. 

"Fine." Thankfully, Diego gave me a half-hearted shove, then settled down, moving away from me.

"Now, wanna tell us what you're talking about?" Luther tried to keep his voice level.

"Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy's, and then, he takes Mina, and the two of them get involved in the one at Gimbel Brothers." I looked down at my feet. This was bad.

"None of which is any of your concern," Five answered calmly.

"It is now. They just killed my friend." My gaze quickly snapped to Five, glaring at him. All this bullshit had a personal body count now.

"Who are they, Five?" I demanded. He seemed to shut down, and I lightened up, softening my expression and taking a seat next to him again. 

"They work for my former employer. A woman called The Handler. She sent them... to stop me. Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game." My face quickly hardened again as I stared at him, finding it harder and harder to make an excuse for him.

"And now they're my fair game. And I'm gonna see to it they pay." Diego turned on his heel, staring to run back up the stairs, as though he'd just be able to find them. 

"That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." He slammed the door behind him, and Luther and I waited a moment, wanting to see whether he came back or not. After a little while, nothing changed, and I went back to interrogating Five.

"Former employer? What's this really about? And don't give my any of this 'it's none of your business' crap, all right?"

"Well, it's a long story." I could tell he was trying to turn me away from listening, but he clearly forgot who I was. "She found me a long time after I'd been stuck in the future. I don't know how long she'd been watching me for, but that was the first time she approached me. I kept shouting and threatening to shoot her, but the whole time she was... eerily calm. She told me about her organization, The Commission-- they try to preserve the time continuum-- and offered me a job. She allotted me five years of service, in exchange for being able to come back here and retire with all of you. I tried to ask her about the end of the world, and she told me... it's meant to happen. I didn't know what else to do at that point. I'd been wandering for too long, and I got sick of eating scraps and sleeping on stones. So I took the job. They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum. Or 'corrections', as they called them. I wasn't the only one. There are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me. They didn't realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world. So I broke my contract."

I hadn't noticed Luther moving about until he made his way over to Five and I, holding out a plate and two mugs out to us. I smiled at it him and took one of the mugs, blowing on the tea before taking a sip.

"So... you were a hit man." That was a long story to get to the point, but at least I better understood now. "Uh... I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody?"

"No code," Five answered flatly. "We took out anyone who messed with the time line."

"What about innocent people?"

"It was the only way I could get back here." I rested a hand on the mattress and pushed my torso back a little, appalled and shocked.

"But that's murder." Five rolled his eyes.

"Jesus, Mina, grow up. We're not kids anymore." I raised an eyebrow at him as I stared him down. "There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There's just people going about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family. Time changes everything."

Metal clattered outside, causing all of us to jump and come out the trance we had been put in. Five and I started to eat remaining in complete silence until both of us had finished, and Luther took the plate away.

"Hey, Luther? Would you give us a minute?" Luther looked between Five and I, trying to figure out what was going on. I shrugged, but he nodded and walked out, shutting the door behind him. "All right, your turn."

"What?" I scoffed.

"I just want to give you a chance to say whatever you're thinking about all of this." He sighed. "I'm sorry, I would've told you earlier, I just thought... I know you, Mina, just as well as you know me. I knew you'd get like this. Besides, like I told you in the van, I didn't have all my facts together. But at this rate, I doubt that's ever going to happen, so here we are."

"Okay, but if you had told me sooner, a lot of this could have been prevented. You realize that, right?" He looked down, trying to avoid my gaze. "Five." 

"I'm sorry..." was all he said. I rolled my eyes at him, shifting to get up.

"Yeah, right."

With that, I headed outside and joined Luther, waiting for Five to collect himself and come out before we headed back to the Academy.


	13. Four on the Lapel

I rushed up the stairs, darting my head around each corner. I'd searched the entire house, but I couldn't find Klaus anywhere. Thanks to Detective Patch-- may she rest in peace-- he had come home while we were out keeping an eye on Five. I wanted to check on him and apologize for not knowing that he had been gone. And I felt like I could talk to him about all of this.

I heard voices as I reached his doorway, and I pressed myself against the wall, trying to listen.

"Don't remember the dog tags," Five observed.

"Yeah, they belonged to a friend." Something about Klaus' voice sounded different, more somber and serious. He'd lost that eccentric lilt.

"How about that new tattoo?"

"You know, I don't totally remember getting it." Now _that_ sounded like Klaus. I could hear footsteps as Five went further into his brother's room. "Like I said, it was a long night."

"You did it, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Klaus didn't sound the least bit convincing. I didn't have to look at his face to know he was anything but confused.

"You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus."

"Symptoms of what?"

"The jet lag. The full body itch. Headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain. You gonna tell me about it?" I still couldn't figure out what they were talking about. 

"Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead."

My heart sank as I stood there listening to Klaus. I hadn't wanted it to be true, he didn't deserve that. But here I stood, hearing the confirmation of what he had suffered.

"And in return, you stole their briefcase." Five made it sound like some heroic act, but knowing Klaus, it wasn't out of revenge.

"Yeah, I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever. And then I opened it."

"And the next thing you knew, you were... where? Or should I say when?"

"What difference does it make?"

"What diff-- uh--" I could tell Five was getting frustrated, but strangely enough, he didn't go into his usual ranting barrage. "Okay, how long were you gone?"

"Almost a year." My eyes went wide in disbelief. He'd been gone nearly a year, yet he came back to this exact time? Time travel really was a bitch...

"A year? Do you know what this means?" Klaus scoffed. 

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now."

"No, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?"

"Gone. I destroyed it. Poof."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Five demanded.

"What do you care?"

"What do I care? I needed it, you moron, so I could get back. I could start over."

My curiosity immediately melted into anger. Five always left out some detail, and although it didn't surprise me that this was it, it still severely pissed me off.

"Just... just..." I hear Klaus moving toward the doorway.

"Where are you going?" I stepped to the side, placing myself in the doorway.

"Interrogation's over, just... leave." Klaus vaguely waved to me as he passed by. "Hey, Mina."

Five's head snapped up and he turned to the doorway, eyes widening as he stared at me.

"How much of that did you hear?" I refused to speak, still attempting to deal with my anger. "Judging by the look on your face, I would say enough.

"You shouldn't have pressed Klaus," I said, crossing the room as my eyes wandered around the walls. "Wherever he ended up, he clearly went through something. But I guess you wouldn't get that, since this whole apocalypse and death thing absolutely has not phased you one bit. It's clearly more about you than your family. Right?"

"Mina, come on." My eyes fell to the pin on his uniform's lapel again.

"You don't have to wear that just to pity me, you know. You might think I'm your fragile big sister who believes everything is fine, but I came to accept a long time ago that our world is screwed up." I swallowed hard to fight back tears. "I finally thought my brother had come back. But you really only came back for the apocalypse. It had nothing to with all of us at all. I should've known we were just some excuse for you."

Before he got the chance to explain again, I rushed from the room, going to the sanctity of my own and slamming the door shut behind me. Every ounce of me screamed to go dance, but I took a breath and clenched my fists. I was better than that. Instead, I paced back and forth, mumbling to myself. I just had to keep my head, that's all.

A walk around the Academy might help.

I didn't get very far down the hall, when I became distracted by the sound of chalk scratching against a wall. I slowed my steps as I neared the source, fighting down contempt as I realized it was coming from Five's room.

Maybe I had been a bit harsh... after what he had seen, I had to cut him some slack. If I told him to do that to Klaus, I'd have to do the same.

I knocked lightly on the door and opened it a bit, peering in at him. He was stood on his bed, writing on his walls with a piece of chalk. He wrote another set of numbers on the board before taking a step back, admiring his handiwork.

"Oh. Okay, I think I've got something, Delores. It's tenuous, but promising.

"What is all this?" Five jumped, throwing the chalk in my direction. It bounced off my forehead before clattering to the ground and snapping in half. I reached down and picked up the white cylinder, stepping up to hand it to him. "Nice to see the fight response is genetic as well."

"I'm shocked you care." I sighed, trying not to snap back at him.

"Okay, I deserved that." I took a seat on his bed. "I'm sorry about what I said, Five. I was still trying to process everything you told us this morning. I'm still not happy about what your past-- future? This is confusing-- but I want to help you with stopping the apocalypse." He moved from standing on his bed to sit next to me. "I know whenever I say we want to protect you, you brush it off. I know verbally, you don't take it seriously, but... I'm hoping you'll actually let me help you this time, instead of leading me down dead ends?" He smiled, nodding as he looked over at me. "I'm still your sister, and I still want to protect you."

"I know. After I found you all... I thought getting you involved would just get you killed again. I couldn't deal with that for a while. But... if you're still willing to help me, I'd be glad to have you on my team." I reached out and hugged him, squeezing him tight before letting go. "And hey, I wear the pin because you're my sister and I want to remember you wherever I go, not because I pity you or something." 

"Well, that's a little more reassuring." We both laughed a little. "Now, explain to me what all of this is." He jumped back up, gesturing to all the equations all over his walls.

"It's a probability map." I furrowed my brows, still unable to understand all this science shit.

"Probability of what?"

"Of whose death could save the world."

Oh lord...

"Are you saying that one of these four people causes the apocalypse?"

"No, I'm saying that their death might prevent it." I sighed, leaning my head against my hand.

"Oh... I'm still not getting it." Five threw his arms a bit, but I could tell he didn't want to start shouting at me.

"Time is fickle, Mina. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect." I nodded along. I knew what that was. "So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them. Oh, yeah." He jumped down and started scribbling on a piece of paper, while I started scanning the walls. The only thing I really understood were the four circled names. 

"Milton Greene. So who's he, a terrorist or something?"

"I believe he's a gardener." I looked back up at my brother.

"You can't be serious," I sighed. "Wait, this is madness, Five, you--" I cut myself off, staring in horror as he picked up a shotgun case from under his bed. I quickly jumped up, trying to get away from it. "Wh-Where'd you get that?"

"In Dad's room," he answered casually. "I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros. It's similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable."

"But you can't-- this guy Milton is just an innocent man."

"It's basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If I did nothing, he'd be dead in four days, anyways. The apocalypse won't spare anyone."

"We don't do this kind of thing."

_"We_ are not doing anything. _I_ am."

"There you go again," I scoffed. "Five, I want to help you, but I can't let you go and kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you'll save."

"Well, good luck stopping me."

He started to walk out the door, but this time, I had leverage over him. I quickly reached for Delores and moved toward the window. I really didn't want to do this, but if it made him stop and consider other options, I'd go through with it.

"You're not going anywhere." I had never seen Five glare at anyone with that sort of rage. He had gotten angry before, but this was a completely different level. I tried my best to hold my ground as he threw up the shotgun, aiming the barrel at me.

"Put... her... down."

"Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone. I know how important she is to you, don't make me do this. It's either her or the gun. You decide." He laughed bitterly.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't how normal siblings fight."

"Yeah, we've had this conversation. You're not distracting me with that."

He stared me down for a moment, twitching as the gun continued to point at me, until he made the decision to jump, grabbing Delores from my hands. I quickly ran over to the shotgun and picked it up.

"I can keep doing this all day." I watched sadly as he sat down, cradling Delores. He really had lost his mind... "I know you're still a good person, Five. Otherwise, you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all. And I'm sorry I said that wasn't the case earlier, because I know that's not right. But you're not on your own anymore. You and I are blood, Five, I'm always here for you." I fell silent for a moment, clasping my hands. "I already lost you once. I'm not about to lose you again. I'd never forgive myself." Five sighed.

"You're not... the only one who's upset with themselves." I hummed in acknowledgement, urging him to continue. "My disappearing caused you to be like that. You can protest all you want, but... I know what you've been doing, okay? And sometimes... all the time... I think it's my fault. If I hadn't gone... maybe you wouldn't be in the state you are." He sniffled a little bit. "And I'm sorry about that."

"What? Five, that's ridiculous," I assured him. "I did this to myself, okay? It is not your fault. Don't you dare think that." He nodded a little still looking down at Delores. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah..." The smiles returned to our faces.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna help you, and you're gonna tell me how. What's your plan?" He thought over things for a moment.

"There is one way. But it's just about impossible."

"More impossible than what brought you back here?"

"Amazingly, yes." I refused to let either of us give up hope.

"Well, we might as well try it." I glanced at the mannequin in his hands. "Uh, sorry about throwing her, by the way."

"It's fine... it's fine..." I shifted a bit.

"Now, come on, we've got a plan to execute." I stood up and slung an arm around his shoulders, forcing him to walk fast. For a moment, the sunlight hit the pin, making me smile.

"We're gonna need a briefcase."


	14. Blink and You'll Miss Him

Five and I remained in a tense silence as I pulled the car up to the side of the road, parking and leaning back in the seat. He hadn't filled me in on all the details of his plan, which made me a little nervous, but he did assure me that if he suddenly wasn't there, he would be back soon. I made him promise me that, otherwise I was going to force him to come up with another plan.

I wrapped my arms around the briefcase, looking for some sort of comfort as we both sat there. I didn't have to say a word for both of us to know I was worried about all of this. Five, much like Diego, knew all my little expressions like the back of his hand, but that's mainly because he made most of the same ones. I guess that had been inherited, somehow. I watched the horizon intently, as though it suddenly would disappear if I didn't keep my eyes on it. 

"You know, I never enjoyed it." I turned my head to Five, raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"The killing." I swallowed awkwardly. I thought maybe we were just gonna let that go, never mention it again. But I suppose there was some comfort in the fact he wanted to talk through it with me a little more. "I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it." I scoffed.

"Wow, Five. _That's_ reassuring." He chose to ignore my comment, instead going on about his former employment. 

"But it never gave me pleasure," he interjected, cutting me off before I could keep rambling and criticizing. "I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind."

I looked down at the briefcase, my mindset beginning to change. It was something to do, I suppose, even if it wasn't exactly the most morally correct. And, for the first time, I think he was acknowledging that Delores wasn't real. In truth, it broke my heart a little to think of my brother all on his own, wandering endlessly and dealing with the image of his dead siblings constantly playing through his head. He bought his time, trying to keep his mind off things. 

"Yeah, well, you were gone for a long time." I sighed. "You know, being in the thick of my ballet studio... it feels like you're losing your mind sometimes. It's all my brain focuses on, and it's like everything else in the world suddenly becomes irrelevant. And when show season's over... well, it's like I don't know how to function." He raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm just trying to say that you're lucky... that you found Delores. I, uh..." I laughed a little, even though none of this was even close to funny. "I don't have anyone like that for me, even just a friend. That's... how I got like this. No one to turn to or talk to, I refused to see someone because how could they understand? I know this is the last thing you probably want to hear from your sister, because, you know, it's all mushy and shit..." Thankfully, that made him laugh as well. "But in a weird way, I'm kind of glad we all ended up together. I know we tear each other apart a lot, Diego and Luther can't even be in the same room without trying to kill each other, and everyone seems to hate Vanya for some reason, but you guys have always been the people I can turn to when something's wrong. It's a little easier for me to open up to you and Klaus, but the others are still there when I need them. Vanya said you and Ben were the only things bonding us together, but... I don't think that's true. It may not be obvious on the outside, but we all love each other."

"Some of us are just too proud to admit it," Five finished.

"Exactly." I titled my head toward him. "You'll always be my favorite, though."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "You'll always be my favorite sister."

"Oh, so he finally admits it," I taunted. My eyes flickered back down to the briefcase, the worry coming back to me. "You think they'll buy it?"

"Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back." I knew these guys were dangerous, and handing over this briefcase could go south very quickly. Especially since they were here, hunting Five. It might not be the smartest thing for him to hand it over.

"Well, I should hold onto it."

"Hm?"

"In case they make a move on you," I explained. Shockingly enough, Five nodded, agreeing to my terms. 

"Okay, Mina, but be careful. I mean, I've... I've lived a long life, but... you're still a young woman. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it." I rolled my eyes.

"You be careful, too. You've got the chance here to start over, kid. I'm gonna make sure you get to take it." Five smiled, almost seeming a little shocked at all of this. He fell completely silent, lacking a snarky or sarcastic comeback.

Just off in the distance, I watched a blue car approach. The drivers went quickly, disappearing for moments at a time as the car dipped down to the bottoms of the hills the road had been paved over.

"Here we go."

The two of us climbed out of the car, watching as Hazel and Cha-Cha pulled over. My hands trembled a little, but I took a deep breath, attempting to keep all of this from overwhelming me. I kept my eyes completely on my brother, making sure that he never left my sight, and that I was ready to act if something happened. Five turned his gaze away from the other car, squinting a bit against the sunlight as he looked up at me.

"If this all goes sideways, do me a favor and tell Delores I'm sorry." I nodded, trying not to tip him off to the fact that, if things really went beyond my control and something happened to him, I'd honestly just probably take her back to the store. What else was I supposed to do with half a mannequin?

Hazel and Cha-Cha's masks looked worse for the wear, covered in scorch marks and the latter's missing an ear. Hazel held a gun readily in his hand, forcing me to bounce my eyes between him and my brother. We'd already had two encounters with them, and both times, I'd taken him down, yet his presence still made me nervous.

"The masks really necessary?"

The pair removed them and threw them aside, and for the first time, I got a good look at their faces. Hazel's mass of curly hair and scruffy beard made him a little less threatening when compared to Cha-Cha's bold features and sharp haircut, but they both looked professional. It was still strange to think that my brother had, at one point, worked with these people, and now they wanted him dead, acting as thought they'd never known each other.

"So where is it, kid?" Cha-Cha demanded.

"Wow, that's how you're gonna start? You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day."

"You won't even make it halfway there." I tensed as Cha-Cha removed a gun from under her jacket, pointing it directly at my brother's head.

"Maybe. But as I'm sure you found out in your previous forays, my sister is not your average woman."

"He's right. All she had to do was touch my shoulder and I got an electric shock, not to mention she kicked both of us down." My brows raised a bit. Hazel almost seemed hesitant to act.

"By the time you took her out, she'd completely burn that briefcase to a crisp."

"Probably us too, right? So, how do we help each other?" I had to admit, Hazel was being extremely reasonable right now. That gave me a strange amount of hope that he had potential. Maybe he'd see the light at some point.

"I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her. Face-to-face."

"About what?" 

"Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern." Cha-Cha shook her head, but caved.

"Just don't tell her about the briefcase." 

"Fair enough." 

They broke off from each other, wandering back to their own 'corners'. Hazel watched us the entire time as Cha-Cha approached the payphone, dialing some strange set of numbers. I looked down to my brother, gripping the briefcase a little tighter as he returned to the car.

"What happens now?" We both leaned against the side of the vehicle.

"Now we wait."

Strangely enough, he almost looked nervous. He had this whole thing mapped out in his head, but I suppose that there were always little factors he couldn't account for. I still wasn't completely clear on what was happening, but I'd just have to trust this would all work out in his hands. I reached out and squeezed his shoulder a bit, causing him to smile up at me. Everything was going to work out the way it was meant to, and hopefully, it wouldn't cost my brother his life.

Both of our attentions were drawn down the road as the faint chime of an ice cream truck suddenly caught our attentions. Both of us squinted off in the distance, watching as a large, white truck came over the hills. My confusion didn't subside as it passed by us, and Klaus waved from the driver's side. Diego sat next to him, staring out the front windshield with intensity.

Shit. They were about to mess this all up.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five growled.

Hazel and Cha-Cha suddenly began to fire in our direction, and as adrenaline pushed me to move, I stepped in front of Five, trying my best to cover him. My eyes closed for a split second, flinching as a bullet fired in my direction.

**_(3rd Person P.O.V)_**

Just as the ice cream truck came into contact with Hazel and Cha-Cha, as Mina stepped in front of her brother, the movements of the world slowed, and the colors became saturated. Curiously, Five peered out from behind his sister, staring at her for a moment before waving a hand in front of her face. She was completely frozen.

"Neat trick, isn't it?"

Five turned around, eyes spotting a familiar, white-haired woman in a slick, black coat, her signature sunglasses covering her eyes. She removed the veil from in front of her face, then said sunglasses.

"Hello, Five." Her tone remained the same, refusing to demonstrate any sort of genuine emotion. "You look good, all things considered.

"It's good to see you again," he greeted, trying to get her to put her defenses down.

"Feels like we met just yesterday. 'Course, you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all of the scent."

Five chuckled bitterly, his eyes looking away for a moment. If only it had been a disguise tactic.

"Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections and... well, you know. Here I am." He held his arms out, finally surrendering to the fact that he was, for the time being, a 13-year-old boy again.

"You realize your efforts are futile," The Handler observed. "So why don't you tell me what you really want."

Finally, they could get down to business.

"I want you to put a stop to it." She understood exactly what he was talking about, and he knew it.

"You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be." Five rolled his eyes. He hated that excuse, the one the Commission had used for ages. "That's out _raison d'être._ "

Five reached into the pocket of his blazer, removing a small handgun he'd stashed away. Thank God Mina was frozen at the moment, otherwise she'd be giving him _that_ look-- the same one she'd been using on him since they were kids.

Unsurprisingly, The Handler chuckled as Five pointed the weapon at her.

"Yeah? Well, how about survival as a _raison_?" he threatened.

"I'll just be replaced," she reminded him. "I'm but a... small cog in a machine. This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... is just that: a fantasy. I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your... stick-to-itiveness, really quite... quite something. Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at The Commission in management."

Five chuckled, slightly appalled that she would even make a suggestion like that. Hadn't him breaking his contract said enough?

"Sorry, what's that now?"

"Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong."

"Well, it didn't work out too well the last time."

"But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer. I'm talking about... the home office. You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel. You're a distinguished professional in..." She paused for a moment, fumbling over her words. "...schoolboy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean you... you can't be happy like this."

"I'm not looking for happy."

He grimaced as she reached out, stroking his cheek. His eyes, for a split second, flickered over to Mina, knowing that if she had seen this, she would have ripped The Handler's arm off and beaten her with it.

"We're all looking for happy."

She wanted him to work for The Commission so badly, she was practically begging him at this point. Five was prepared to break everything off, when he realized he could use this to his advantage. It would mean deviating from the plan a little bit, and Mina would probably lose her shit, but if it gave him better odds than attempting to bargain with The Handler... he would have to take it.

"We can make that happen. We can make you... yourself again."

There was one factor he needed certainty on, though.

"What about my family?"

"What _about_ them?" The Handler scoffed.

"I want them to survive," he emphasized. She looked to Klaus and Diego in the truck, then Mina, pausing for a little while as she looked at her. He didn't like that.

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them."

She reached into her pocket, indicating the conversation was nearing its end.

"Well... I'll see what I can do." She extended a hand out. "Do we have a deal?"

Five looked down at her hand, but right before he shook it, he remembered something he had to take care of.

"One thing."

First, he made his way over to Hazel and Cha-Cha, removing the magazines from their guns and tossing the weapons out into the field, so they were left defenseless and unable to do anything to his family. He then headed back toward Mina, moving the bullet far enough away that it could hurt her. He sighed, looking up at his sister, smiling a little bit.

"I'll be back, I promise. I won't be gone for nearly as long this time. Just... don't flip out, okay?" He hoped she could hear him. "Love you, sis. I'll see you soon."

The Handler smirked at him as he came back.

"I can see the resemblance." She pointed between the two of them. "If she's anything like you, you're welcome to bring her with you. We could always use more hands." Five shook his head.

"No. She'd refuse to do anything." He smiled at her fondly. "Besides, she doesn't deserve that. She's done nothing but protect me since we were kids, now it's my turn."

"Fine."

He shook her hand, and the moment they made contact, they disappeared.

**_(Mina's P.O.V)_**

I blinked as the bullet left the gun, flinching at the sound, but when my eyes opened again, it was like it completely disappeared. I looked around in confusion, attempting to find it, when something else missing took precedence. Five was gone.

I looked around rapidly, trying to find him, as though he had just hidden under the car or something, but he was completely gone.

He just said he wanted to talk to The Handler. Where the hell had he gone?

"Five! Five!"

I didn't have time to freak out. Hazel and Cha-Cha got up just as quickly as they were knocked down, immediately reaching for their guns. I held up the briefcase, narrowing my eyes at them.

"Come get it!" I snarled, taunting them. Just as Cha-Cha charged, I threw the decoy onto the dirt, giving me the chance to run for my brothers.

Klaus helped Diego out of the truck as I got to them, slinging an arm under the former's shoulder and helping the two of them back to the car. Hazel attempted to fire at us, but somehow, his gun had been exhausted of bullets, giving everyone the chance to get into the car and get away. I slammed my foot down on the gas, ignoring the slight swerving motion of the vehicle.

"Mina, go!" Klaus shouted. "Go!" I could see him flip the pair off through the rear view windshield as they disappeared behind us.

"Mina, where's Five?" I refused to answer, trying to keep my mind off it. "Mina?"

"Shut up, Diego," I snapped. He held his hands up in surrender, realizing he'd touched a nerve.

"Sorry," he muttered.

By the time we got back to the Academy, night had fallen, covering everything in darkness. Neither Klaus nor Diego dared to come near me as I stormed into the house, wanting to go to bed and forget all this happened. I only got up the first set of steps, however, when a set of voices caught my attention, causing me to hide behind a column. 

"How are you feeling?" Pogo asked. There was a momentary pause, then my heart stopped.

"Fine." 

That... that was Mom! Pogo must have figured out how to fix her and done it while we were gone.

But that joy didn't last long.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"I do," Mom answered.

"And do you understand that the children can never know?"

"I understand."

"Good."

I inhaled, hoping that neither of them would come this way and find me hiding there. Footsteps faded after a moment, giving me my chance to escape to my room and slam the door. The moment it shut, my hands ran into my hair as I paced the room.

What could they be hiding?


	15. Familial Rift

_Wednesday, 8:15 a.m._

I knocked lightly on the closed bathroom door, hoping that Klaus wasn't off getting high in there. We had family matters to attend to, and I needed him to be completely with it. I swore I could hear sniffling from inside, but it also could have been the crinkling of a bag, which was the last thing I needed.

"Busy." Klaus' voice sounded weak and drained, as though someone had grabbed him and sucked the life out of him. At least I knew he was in there. Despite his warning, I threw the door open. He scoffed at me and shook his head, which I chose to ignore.

"Oh, good. You're up," I sighed. "We need to talk. You, me, and the others. So meet me in the living room. Like, now-ish."

"Yeah, that sounds like a real rager," he deadpanned, "but my schedule's already chock-full."

I groaned in exasperation and rolled my eyes. I didn't have time to take his shit today, we had to get moving. I presumed Five would be back at some point, so we had to get as much done here as possible before that happened.

"Yeah, no time for that. The world's ending in three days." I started to leave the bathroom, but Klaus still hadn't budged. I looked down at my hand and smirked, noticing the slight blue tint it had taken on. I had just enough of a charge to shock him.

At my wit's end, I stuck my hand out in Klaus' direction, causing him to suddenly cry out and jump up. I hadn't done any damage, it just caused a little jolt of pain, that's all. Still, it made him get up and look at me, even if it was with a glare. 

"Now," I asserted before heading to the drawing room. Klaus eventually joined us, and as Allison passed out coffees and teas, I faced everyone and relayed what Five had told me. The two who didn't know paused for a moment, looking at me like I had two heads (which, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened in this family), before Allison began questioning me.

"Three days?"

"That's what Five said," I shrugged before taking a sip of my tea.

"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it," Klaus added, taking a seat on the floor. I eyed him for another moment, noticing his complexion was starting to take on a green tint, before focusing back on the conversation at hand. He just left out the part about how soon."

"But can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed, but Five's a little..." Allison twirled her finger by her temple and whistled.

"Our little psycho," Klaus remarked fondly.

"He was pretty convincing,” I asserted. “If he wasn't trying to stop an apocalypse, those lunatics wouldn't be chasing him."

"That's why they were after him?" I didn't like how quick Diego was to jump on that. It didn't spell anything good for any of the parties involved.

"Yeah."

"What did Five even see?"

Luther and I exchanged a quick glance, unsure of how to deliver this news. I knew he was entrusting me with this run-down because I had more information on the subject, but this was a whole other deal entirely. How do you tell your own siblings that if we didn't get our shit together, we'd all be dead probably sooner than three days? Not to mention that they might not even believe me. Hell, it was even hard for me to talk about, mainly because I just couldn't forget the look on Five's face when he told me what he'd seen.

"Uh... Apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible." I nodded, as though I had finished my point, but I knew my siblings were aware there was information I was omitting. Regardless, I tried to move on. "Okay. So here's the plan. Uh, we go through Dad's research--"

"Wait, what?" Allison interjected.

"Hold on, hold on."

"Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick. What actually happened the first time around?"

I sighed, looking down at my tea. There really wasn't a way to avoid this, they had to know... and I knew that. Besides, if Klaus was asking, I had to tell. I had a hard time saying no to him, even when we were kids.

"Yeah. What are you not telling us? Come on, Mina, spit it out."

I looked to Luther again, silently asking him for help. He nodded to me, encouraging me to tell them what happened, regardless of consequence. I returned the gesture, hesitating for another moment before speaking up.

"We died." Quickly, I took a sip of my tea, as though that somehow would eliminate the horror of what I had just said.

"What was that?" Allison demanded. I coughed awkwardly.

"I said, uh, we died."

They all stared at me with wide eyes, still attempting to process the situation. I could see the wheels turning in their minds, starting back up and attempting to come up with some sort of response. It was a hard thing to grasp, learning your death would be soon, so I didn't blame them for effectively shutting down for a while.

Diego spoke up first, his tone oddly hostile.

"How long have you known?" I kept looking to Luther for help, but all he did was encourage me to speak. I figured, by this point, he would have tried to take over and I could step back, but I had no such luck. So, instead, I was forced to take the fall and answer their questions while dispelling and conflict that could arise.

"I've known about the apocalypse since the night that Five came back, but our deaths... I've only known for a day, at this point." Diego's expression only soured more.

"So, let me get this straight, you've known about this whole mess for at least a day, and you didn't say anything?"

"Look, Diego, I'm sorry. I just wanted to have all the facts pulled together first, that's all. I didn't think it would take this long for Five to fess up."

"Just now, you're telling us this?"

"I said I'm sorry. Five's got this, we just have to make sure to be ready."

"No, we need to figure this out." I tried my best to keep my composure. Diego and I had never disagreed this much. It was quite the shock to the system, to say the least. I never realized how resistant he could be. "Is it just us?"

"It's everybody," I answered calmly, trying to counter his frantic tone.

"In the house?"

"The whole planet?" My other siblings were starting to chime in, and I could feel that calm demeanor slipping away as the stress started to mount.

"No, outside the house. Everyone died." I figured that would be fairly obvious, given it was an apocalypse, but I _did_ just throw a lot at them.

"Hey."

A bright smile spread on my face as I turned around, meeting eyes with Vanya. Finally, another one of us with sanity, not to mention that if this was family business. She needed to be involved in the conversation. I quickly took steps toward her, still smiling.

"What's going on?"

Somehow, I'd managed to miss the guy standing next to Vanya until now. I guess this was the guy Allison told me about-- Leonard, was his name. The moment we met eyes, my stomach churned and I involuntarily narrowed my eyes a little. Something about him wasn't right... I didn't trust him. 

"It's a family matter," I stated, still glaring at Leonard. He squirmed a little under my gaze, as though he knew I could see something wrong with him.

"A family matter. So you couldn't bother to include me."

Immediately, my attention turned back to Vanya, my expression softening quite a bit. I felt bad the others always left her out, and to be honest, I got so caught up in attempting to get everyone to stop the end of the world, I forgot to make sure she was here. But now that she was, she definitely needed to be part of this. Just... not with Leonard there.

"No, it's not like that," I tried to assure her. "We were--"

"Don't let me interrupt." She started to turn away and head from the room.

"Wait. I'll fill you in later, when we're alone."

"Please, please, don't bother." I was slightly caught off-guard by how hostile she was all of a sudden. Vanya never got like this with me before, even in the past when I'd messed up. What was so different now? "And I won't either."

"Vanya, that's not fair," I protested.

"Fair? There's nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad's fault, but he's dead. So it turns out you're the assholes."

As hurt as I was, I felt more confused than anything else. Vanya and I had always had a bond, and I tried to include her as much as I could. This one incident somehow set her off, I just didn't understand.

Unless... Leonard had something to do with this.

The flippant expression on his face as we met eyes again confirmed my suspicions. Something else was going on in that relationship, something that pushed her further away from us, made her believe we hated her. And although I was still hurt, in the end, I couldn't blame her. She clearly didn't realize what was happening.

"Ouch," Klaus muttered. I knew this conversation was important, but I needed Vanya to understand. Even if she didn't have powers, she was still a part to all of this. 

"I'm gonna go find Vanya and explain."

"No, wait, there isn't time." I turned and looked at Luther with slight annoyance. "Mina, you, of all people, should know every second counts. We need to figure out what causes the apocalypse."

I sighed, shaking my head. He was right.

"Now, there are load of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids. But I'm thinking this is about the moon. Right?" My eyes rolled back into my head. Did he not hear Five talking about the owner of the eye? "Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. And I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent field samples." The rest of us exchanged wide-eyed glances, understanding this was a little dumb. "The first thing we need to do is find his research."

"Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

"Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"

"Five," I piped up. "Last time, we didn't have him." I could hear Klaus gag suddenly, before he groaned in pain and carefully made his way to the couch. "We weren't all together. This time, we'll have the full force of the Umbrella Academy. That's what we need."

"So where's Five now?" I paused awkwardly, clasping my hands together.

"See, about that... I don't actually know." I reached up and scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "He had this plan, but I guess things deviated, because he kinda disappeared again yesterday."

"He _what_?"

"I'm trying to keep calm about all of this, okay?" I shouted. "There is a lot going on that I still don't understand, I'm just trying my best here." The four of them stared at each other for a moment, before Diego moved from his position behind the bar.

"I'm going after Hazel and Cha-Cha."

Ah, this was going _so_ well.

"What, right now?"

"Hell, yeah. Three days, I'm losing light by the minute."

"Wait, Diego," I sighed. "Look, I know you want to avenge your friend, but we've got a bigger problem here.

"She wasn't just some friend." I jumped a bit at his sudden rise in tone. "If I'm gonna die, I need to know I killed those bastards first." He was shockingly accepting of just resigning to fate. "It's not about Dad. It's not about me. It's about her. The longer I wait, Hazel and Cha-Cha are gonna be out there. Stop making it about you." 

Before I could stop him, Diego turned on his heel and stormed out of the house. Everything began to unravel as Klaus got up, heading back toward the bathroom.

"Klaus?" He didn't stop moving, refusing to listen. "Klaus? Klaus!" Finally, he turned around, throwing his arms in the air.

"Yes! Sorry."

"So, what, you're giving up on the world, too?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Mm-hmm."

"So that's it. You're cool with us all dying in three days?" Instead of answering, he just groaned and continued walking out, leaving me with Luther and Allison. "I can't believe it." I looked to my remaining two siblings. "It's just us." Although I knew Luther was on my side, Allison's silence didn't give me hope. "Oh, please, not you, too."

"I have to book a flight back to LA. If this happens, I have to be with my daughter, custody be damned. And you said it yourself... we need the full force of the Academy to even stand a chance. I'm sorry, Mina." She reached out and squeezed my arm for a moment, offering me a sorry look before leaving the room. I stood there a moment, shocked, hurt, and frustrated, before collecting myself and turning to Luther.

"What do you want to do?" he asked me. I sighed, looking down at my feet.

"Tell you what: you look through Dad's research, I'm gonna go try to talk to Klaus."

"Klaus? He already gave up." I pointed a finger at him as I walked away.

"You don't know him like I do. Something's _wrong_. And I've gotta figure out what it is if we want to stand a chance."

With that, I walked out-- just like the rest of my siblings.


	16. Breaking Point

I knocked on Klaus' door twice before he opened it. He still looked a bit pale, but his overall demeanor had improved slightly. It almost gave me hope, until my eyes moved to the rope slung over his shoulder. 

"Hey," I greeted awkwardly. 

"Oh, Mina! I was just coming to look for you." Well thatdidn't give me a good feeling about _any_ of this. "Hey. You, uh... you mind helping me out with something?"

"Depends on what it is..." With Klaus, this could get weird very fast, so I had to be cautious about what I agreed to.

"Oh, nothing big. I just need you to tie me up so I can't move." He tossed the rope to me casually, as though I just would agree to do it like that. 

"Come again?" I stared from the rope to him, trying to deduct what the hell this was about.

"You know, last time I was sober was that roaring good time when those freaks had me tied up in the motel room." He had to be shitting me. Was this seriously what this was all about? There were better ways to do this. Then again, this was Klaus.

"Wow. You are one twisted bonehead," I sighed.

"Why? You're the one that's like 'Klaus, you need to get sober, bro.'" No way was he about to take my genuine concern and twist it like this.

"There are better ways to get clean, Klaus."

"Not for me, no. I need someone to take away my options." Only now did I notice the intense amount of sweat dotting his skin. He really was suffering, pushing himself to get rid of this deadly dependence... but why? Why now, as opposed to any other time? There was no way he thought that the end of the world was grounds for recovery. Klaus wasn't the sort to suddenly change his mind for something like that. Still, at least he was trying. I had to give him credit for that.

"Fine," I sighed, giving in.

"Okay. Thank you."

Despite how shady this all would seem, I took Klaus up to the attic, where, if he started begging for someone to release him, they wouldn't be able to hear him. I still felt uneasy about this whole situation, but maybe if I did this for him, he'd come back to our side and help fight this thing.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Klaus muttered as I walked around him, securing the rope.

"I hate this room," I muttered, looking at the dusty corners.

"Oh, it got me high enough. I picked it clean of anything of value after Daddy kicked the bucket. That's it, tighter and higher." Despite my hesitance, I yanked on the rope, making sure it kept his arms bound to his sides. "Ooh. Ouf! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Fine."

"Ooh! Aah! Aah!"

"If I see a boner, I'm out," I warned, glaring at him. As I expected, Klaus just laughed that comment off. "End of the world and you wanna get sober all of a sudden. Don't get me wrong, Klaus. Good by you. But I'd think you'd wanna pop every pill on the planet."

"Oh, the thought did cross my mind, believe me, but... there's something I need to do, and the whole pesky thing doesn't seem to work unless I'm sober." With his arms and legs completely secured, I crouched down and started to tie the rope to the chair.

"Is this about conjuring the one you lost?" I was scared to ask, not wanting to touch a nerve that would set him off, but I genuinely wanted to know what was going on there. He didn't answer, but I knew enough to keep pressing. "What was his name?" Klaus let out a bit of a surprised gasp.

"You know?" I smiled at him as I continued to secure the rope

"You called me one night when you were high off your ass and left me a voicemail about being pan when I was in one of my shows. So between that, and the dog tags you talked about, which are usually associated with members of the army, who are traditionally male, I sort of figured it out on my own.”

"Oh, yeah... Well, his name was Dave. We soldiered together in the A Shau Valley... in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast." I hesitated for a moment. A Shau was in Vietnam...

All the pieces started to click together, creating a heartbreaking and traumatizing portrait of where Klaus had traveled to.

"Well, Dave must have been a very special person... to put up with all your weird-ass shit." We both chuckled a little at that, knowing that I was just teasing him.

"Yeah. Yeah, he was... He was kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and... beautiful. Beautiful. And I was... foolish enough to follow him all the way to the front line."

"You fought in the shit?" I had to admit, I was impressed.

"Oh yeah, baby." His smile quickly faded as the memories started to come back.

"How'd they let you do that?"

"Let me? War doesn't take enough bodies. Please... Including his." I finished up the knot and stood again. "Hey, look at us. Loggin' in some quality bro-sis time before the end of the world."

"Yeah, might as well." I did one last survey around him, making sure he was completely secured. "I'm just buying my time until my brother gets back." I pat his shoulder.

"How are you holding up with that?" I sighed, crossing my arms and trying to smile at him.

"I'm trying my best to keep my head on." With that, I turned and started to walk away. But before I got too far, I heard Klaus hiss, forcing me to turn around.

"Ah, shit!"

"What?" I thought maybe something was hurting him.

"I need to pee."

"You've got to be shitting me," I muttered. Still, I made my way back over and undid the bonds, following him to the bathroom. At this point, I trusted that he actually wanted to get clean, but just in case, I needed to listen, just to make sure he wasn't going to try anything funny. But he did exactly what he said he wanted to and emerged in a timely fashion. With that taken care of, I led him back and started to tie him up again.

It wasn't until that point that the doubt started to settle in Klaus' mind.

"Get you going here," I muttered as I spread out the rope. "A quick--"

"You know, no, I-I think... I think this was..." He started to stand up, pushing himself out of the chair.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait."

"I think this was a bad idea. No. I just-- I should have had just one last hit to ease me into it. That's all I need." No way in Hell was I gonna let that happen. He'd come too far at this point to back out.

"Mm-hmm. No, no, no."

"I'll be right back." I stuck a hand on his chest, pushing back against him.

"I don't think so."

"No... That's not how it works, Mina."

"Nope. Sit down."

"Mina, listen. Just listen."

"Sit."

"Just listen."

The moment I paused, he tried to push me aside and run. I'd had enough of his shit at this point, so I stuck my hand out in his direction, delivering a shock that caused him to collapse. He groaned in pain as I dragged him back over to the chair and propped him up, quickly beginning to tie the rope around him to secure him in place.

"You can't do that twice in one day," Klaus argued, his voice still weak. 

"They're my powers. I'll do what I damn well please with them."

"Damn it, Mina." He began to thrash as I rushed around the chair. "Damn it! Stop it!" I could feel tears welling in my eyes as he begged. It didn't make me feel good that I was causing him this much distress, but in the end, he was the one that asked me to do this, and I intended on following through-- for his own good.

"Nope."

"Stop it!" 

"Nope!"

"Get off! Get... Get off! Get off! Listen, listen," he begged. "Listen to me. Listen to me. I can conjure someone for you, anyone! Ben? I-I know how much you miss Ben. I can do that."

I snapped. He couldn't just throw our dead brother's name around as some sort of bargaining tool. His memory deserved to be respected, and I wasn't about to trade ten seconds with Ben to let Klaus get high.

"Klaus, cut it out!" I screamed, pulling on the rope a little tighter than necessary. "Just stop, okay? None of this is going to make things any better for you. First of all, you can't conjure shit until you're clean. I'm not just gonna fall for that 20 minutes after you told me why I'm doing this. I'm not an idiot. Secondly, don't you _dare_ use Ben's name like that." I reached up and grabbed his shoulders firmly, shaking him just a bit. "Listen to _me_. It's okay to grieve, Klaus, that's part of life. You lose people, it happens. Yes, of course I miss Ben every day of my goddamn life. I mean, no offense to the others, but Five, you, and him have always been my favorite siblings. But I will _not_ have you soil his memory just for one last hit. You hear me?"

"Please, Mina. Please." A few tears slipped out as I finished tying him up. Instead of giving in, I tied the last knot and presented him with a blue bucket.

"This is for next time. Puke, pee, whatever you need. Multipurpose. See?"

I hesitated a bit as I stood, trying my best to shut out Klaus' distressed cries.

"Mina! Mina, please come back! You prick!"

I rested my hand on the doorway for a second, looking back in his direction.

"I'm sorry, Klaus. But it's for your own good, and we both know it."

I covered my ears as I rushed to my room, slamming the door shut and collapsing into a heap on my bed. I struggled to breathe as sobs ripped at my throat. I had finally broken down, completely exhausted of whatever patience I had left for this family. The day was nearly over, Five still hadn't come back, and if I stopped for a moment, I could still hear Klaus screaming; Vanya hated me now, Allison had likely already left, Diego had made it his goal to go on a suicide mission, and Luther wouldn't shut up about the goddamn moon. At this point, I was starting to accept that the apocalypse was going to happen, and we wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Mina?"

I sat up straight and wiped my eyes, trying to compose myself as Diego opened the door.

"Diego?" I sniffled. "I thought you went after Hazel and Cha-Cha." He leaned against the door frame, smirking a bit.

"Yeah, well, I heard my sister was in distress, and I figured that was a little more important." I scoffed as he made his way over and sat down next to me.

"That's not what you were saying this morning. What really changed your mind?" He remained quiet for another moment, as though debating whether or not to tell me what was going through his mind before letting me in on the toils of his mind.

"Mom is... up, moving around." I nodded, not letting him in at first that I already knew. "It was jarring, but... I'm glad she's back. Something about her seemed off, though. She couldn't remember anything after last week. She didn't even remember Dad dying..."

"Yeah, I... I heard her and Pogo talking last night, after we got back," I admitted. "He asked her if she remembers what happened, and why we can't know. I don't know what they're talking about, though..." I threw my hands down against my thighs, sighing. "I don't know. I'm done with all this family's bullshit. I should have left a long time ago, yet here I am, chasing some stupid fantasy because I took my brother coming home as a sign that things were gonna get better. Yet, here we are, and I feel like I've just gotten worse as time has gone on." I stood up suddenly, heading for the closet and removing the bag I had brought.

"Wait, Mina, you're not seriously--"

"I've accepted the world is going to end, at this point," I snapped, violently throwing clothes into it with no regard as to whether or not they'd fit right. "Five went off book and disappeared, and I don't think he's going to come back at this point. Everyone else gave up as well, and to be honest, if this is it for all of us, I'd like to perform one last time before we're all wiped out."

Diego stood and pulled the bag out from under my hands.

"Stop it! You're panicking, that's all. You need to calm down." I glared at him and yanked the bag back, managing to zip it up and throw it over my shoulder. "Sis, you're not listening to me. You going back and dancing right now? That's a really bad idea. You're not in the right mindset, we both know what's going to happen. For your sake, just stay here."

"And do what? Regret sitting around and not stopping the end of the world?" I pulled my shoes on and started to storm out of the room. "Hell, no."

I always thought when the time came, when I knew it was over, I'd be afraid. Who isn't at least a little afraid of dying? Especially under the pretenses of the end of all things, when the entire world suddenly would be plunged into nothingness, and there wasn't a thing anyone could do to stop it. But, I suppose knowing that it would happen one way or another forced me to give in.

For the first time, I spoke to others I had been dancing with for years, congratulating and consoling. Quite a few confused looks were cast my direction as I spoke. I don't think anyone understood why I suddenly wanted to break down the barriers we all had created between each other. I figured it better not to warn them of the end, let them go out unaware. They likely wouldn't believe me anyways.

"Mina Hargreeves!"

I jumped up from my chair and set down the can of hairspray I'd used to secure the ribbons of my pointe shoes. The music progressed in usual time, each dancer and group flowing on and off in the expected current.

And finally, my turn came. I held nothing back, pushing my muscles when they begged me to stop and purposefully discounting the burning in my chest. Every figure and object blended together, and soon, it felt as though I couldn't even breathe anymore. I didn't register my stumbles and slips, seeing as how they were conveniently part of this role, and my mind chocked the tingling sensations up to my powers charging. Despite the fogginess and blurring of the world around me, I managed to finish just fine and make my way backstage on my own. It wasn't until I sat down in a chair that everything hit me all at once, and it felt as though someone and reached into my chest and clenched their fist around my heart. I struggled to take a breath as my hands trembled, turning to ice while sweat ran down my skin. The vibrations of voices pounded against my ears and skull, but I couldn't register their words. Black spots started to replace the familiar environment, the pain and discomfort faded into almost nothing. 

Giselle wouldn’t make it to be a Willi this time.

Before complete darkness took over, I must have hallucinated. But I could've sworn, just for a moment, that the entire world stopped, and I could just make out the face of my brother, leaning over and staring in horror. It looked as though he opened some black object, and a blue light flashed, then my eyes slammed themselves shut.


	17. Do-Over

_Wednesday, 8:15 a.m. (...again)_

I knocked lightly on the closed bathroom door, hoping that Klaus wasn't off getting high in there. We had family matters to attend to, and I needed him to be completely with it. I swore I could hear sniffling from inside, but it also could have been the crinkling of a bag, which was the last thing I needed.

"Busy." Klaus' voice sounded weak and drained, as though someone had grabbed him and sucked the life out of him. At least I knew he was in there. Despite his warning, I threw the door open. He scoffed at me and shook his head, which I chose to ignore.

"Oh, good. You're up," I sighed. "We need to talk. You, me, and the others. So meet me in the living room. Like, now-ish."

"Yeah, that sounds like a real rager," he deadpanned, "but my schedule's already chock-full."

I groaned in exasperation and rolled my eyes. I didn't have time to take his shit today, we had to get moving. I would presume Five would be back at some point, so we had to get as much done here as possible before that happened.

"Yeah, no time for that. The world's ending in three days." I started to leave the bathroom, but Klaus still hadn't budged. I looked down at my hand and smirked, noticing the slight blue tint it had taken on. I had just enough of a charge to shock him.

At my wit's end, I stuck my hand out in Klaus' direction, causing him to suddenly cry out and jump up. I hadn't done any damage, it just caused a little jolt of pain, that's all. Still, it made him get up and look at me, even if it was with a glare. 

"Now," I asserted before heading to the drawing room. Klaus eventually joined us, and as Allison passed out coffees and teas, I faced everyone and told them about what Five had told me. The two who didn't know paused for a moment, looking at me like I had two heads (which, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened in this family), before Allison began questioning me.

"Three days?"

"That's what Five said," I shrugged before taking a sip of my tea.

"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it," Klaus added, taking a seat on the floor. I eyed him for another moment, noticing his complexion was starting to take on a green tint, before focusing back on the conversation at hand. He just left out the part about how soon."

"But can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed, but Five's a little..." Allison twirled her finger by her temple and whistled.

"Our little psycho," Klaus remarked fondly. I really wasn't having any of this right now.

"He was pretty convincing. If he wasn't trying to stop an apocalypse, those lunatics wouldn't be chasing him."

"That's why they were after him?" I didn't like how quick Diego was to jump on that. It didn't spell anything good for any of the parties involved.

"Yeah."

"What did Five even see?"

Luther and I exchanged a quick glance, unsure of how to deliver this news. I knew he was entrusting me with this run-down because I had more information on the subject, but this was a whole other deal entirely. How do you tell your own siblings that if we didn't get our shit together, we'd all be dead probably sooner than three days? Not to mention that they might not even believe me. Hell, it was even hard for me to talk about, mainly because I just couldn't forget the look on Five's face when he told me what he'd seen.

"Uh... Apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible." I nodded, as though I had finished my point, but I knew my siblings were aware there was information I was omitting. Regardless, I tried to move on. "Okay. So here's the plan. Uh, we go through Dad's research--"

"Wait, what?" Allison interjected.

"Hold on, hold on."

"Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick. What actually happened the first time around?"

I sighed, looking down at my tea. There really wasn't a way to avoid this, they had to know... and I knew that. Besides, if Klaus was asking, I had to tell. I had a hard time saying no to him, even when we were kids.

"Yeah. What are you not telling us? Come on, Mina, spit it out."

I looked to Luther again, silently asking him for help. He nodded to me, encouraging me to tell them what happened, regardless of consequence. I returned the gesture, hesitating for another moment before speaking up.

"We died." Quickly, I took a sip of my tea, as though that somehow would eliminate the horror of what I had just said.

"What was that?" Allison demanded. I coughed awkwardly.

"I said, uh, we died."

They all stared at me with wide eyes, still attempting to process the situation. I could see the wheels turning in their minds, starting back up and attempting to come up with some sort of response. It was a hard thing to grasp, learning your death would be soon, so I didn't blame them for effectively shutting down for a while.

Diego spoke up first, his tone oddly hostile.

"How long have you known?" I kept looking to Luther for help, but all he did was encourage me to speak. I figured, by this point, he would have tried to take over and I could step back, but I had no such luck. So, instead, I'd be forced to take the fall and answer their questions while dispelling and conflict that could arise.

"I've known about the apocalypse since the night that Five came back, but our deaths... I've only known for a day, at this point." Diego's expression only soured more.

"So, let me get this straight, you've known about this whole mess for at least a day, and you didn't say anything?"

"Look, Diego, I'm sorry. I just wanted to have all the facts pulled together first, that's all. I didn't think it would take this long for Five to fess up."

"Just now, you're telling us this?"

"I said I'm sorry. Five's got this, we just have to make sure to be ready."

"No, we need to figure this out." I tried my best to keep my composure. Diego and I had never disagreed this much. It was quite the shock to the system, to say the least. I never realized how resistant he could be. "Is it just us?"

"It's everybody," I answered calmly, trying to counter his frantic tone.

"In the house?"

"The whole planet?" My other siblings were starting to chime in, and I could feel that calm demeanor slipping away as the stress started to mount.

"No, outside the house. Everyone died." I figured that would be fairly obvious, given it was an apocalypse, but I _did_ just throw a lot at them.

"Hey."

A bright smile spread on my face as I turned around, meeting eyes with Vanya. Finally, another one of us with sanity, not to mention that if this was family business, she needed to be involved in the conversation. 

"What's going on?"

Somehow, I'd managed to miss the guy standing next to Vanya until now. I guess this was the guy Allison told me about-- Leonard, was his name. The moment we met eyes, something in my stomach churned, and I involuntarily narrowed my eyes a little. Something about him wasn't right... I didn't trust him. 

"It's a family matter," Allison stated, hinting at the same thing I was. I continued glaring at Leonard, choosing to keep my mouth shut and just wait for him to leave. He squirmed a little under my gaze, as though he knew I didn't like something about him.

"A family matter. So you couldn't bother to include me." Allison's head reeled back a bit as her jaw dropped slightly. 

"No, it's not like that," she tried to assure her. "We were--"

"Don't let me interrupt." Vanya started to turn away and head from the room.

"Wait. I'll fill you in later, when we're alone."

"Please, please, don't bother." I was slightly caught off-guard by how hostile she was suddenly being. Sure, Vanya had her moments with us, but in the end, she understood that we loved her and, with the exception of Diego, thought of her as one of us. "And I won't either."

"Vanya, that's not fair," Allison protested.

"Fair? There's nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad's fault, but he's dead. So it turns out you're the assholes."

As hurt as I was, I'd been left more with confusion than anything else. Vanya and I had always had a bond, and I tried to include her as much as I could, but now, she was lumping me in with everyone else. This one incident somehow set her off, I just didn't understand.

Unless... Leonard had something to do with this.

The flippant expression on his face as we met eyes again confirmed my suspicions. Something else was going on in that relationship, something that pushed her further away from us, made her believe we hated her. And although I was still hurt, in the end, I couldn't blame her. She clearly didn't realize what was happening.

"Ouch," Klaus muttered. 

"I'm gonna go find Vanya and explain." Allison started to turn away, but I couldn't let her go. It killed me that we couldn't catch her now, but as much as I hated to say it, there were more important things at stake

"No, wait, there isn't time." 

"Now, there are load of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids. But I'm thinking this is about the moon. Right?" My eyes rolled back into my head. Did he not hear Five talking about the owner of the eye? "Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. And I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent field samples." The rest of us exchanged wide-eyed glances, understanding this was a little dumb. "The first thing we need to do is find his research."

"Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

"Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"

Before I could answer, lightning crackled in front of us, causing a blue glow that made all of us flinch, and when I could open my eyes again, Five landed with a loud 'thump' on the counter. covered in dust, debris, and blood. 

"You guys, am I still high, or do you see him, too?" Klaus asked weakly.

"Five, where have you been?" I reached out as he tumbled off the counter, grabbing him by his arm to help him up. "Are you all right? Who did this?"

"Irrelevant." Five snatched Allison's coffee and limped toward the center of the room. We all watched him with wide-eyes, astonished and concerned. He finished the sip with a flair, wiping his lips dramatically. "So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save the world is, well, us."

"The Umbrella Academy."

"Yeah, but with me, obviously. So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together, and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No." Klaus shook his head along with Five's words, indicating he actually was listening. "And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." Five held up a battered and creased piece of paper, folded perfectly to fit into his pocket. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse." My brother handed the sheet to me, and quickly, I unfolded it, acknowledging we had a limited amount of time to take care of this. "This is who we have to stop."

I looked down at the sheet, reading the blocky text aloud so the rest of my siblings knew what was there.

"Harold Jenkins?"

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?" The beverage made a slurping sound as Five took another sip, before he threw the empty cup toward the couches, causing me to pinch the bridge of my nose in exasperation. 

"I don't know... yet. But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now."

"How is he connected to what's gonna happen?" I demanded.

"I don't know." I scoffed at my little brother, looking to Luther for a moment before continuing my questioning.

"Wait, so you just know his name? That's it?"

"That's enough," he tried to reason.

"There's probably dozens of Harold Jenkinses in the city," I pointed out.

"Well, we just better start looking, then." Sure, we really didn't have enough information to track down this specific person, but I trusted that Five knew what he was doing. He was our apocalypse expert, after all.

"I'm sorry," Allison interjected, sounding anything but. "Am I the only one that's skeptical here?" My gaze lingered on Five for a moment as his face suddenly scrunched and he glanced down at his torso. "I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what's-his-name?"

"Harold Jenkins. You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?"

"Oh, yeah, I think I remember those guys?" I shook my head at Klaus. He, out of all of us, should remember them the best, save for Five, who knew them personally.

"Yeah, the ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk," Diego accused. Although he had a point, I didn't appreciate all of this sudden ganging up on Five. He wanted to help us, and they were all just questioning him. They had reasonable doubt, to be fair.

"Yeah. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life of Earth." It felt kind of strange being completely up-to-date on everything. I was used to confusion and being left in the dark.

"The Temps what?" I could see Allison's skepticism only growing.

"My former employer. They monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen... happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission Headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. 'Protect Harold Jenkins.' So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

For a moment, everyone remained silent, and I thought they had fully processed everything and would be ready to go. But, instead, they all erupted into questions, causing Five to roll his eyes. I watched as his fists tensed, growing more frustrated with our siblings as they kept speaking.

"What do you mean, protect time and space?"

"Where is this Hazel, Five?" Of course Diego would ask that.

"What are you even talking about?"

"My skin is on fire," Klaus muttered, not focusing on the conversation at all.

"Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?" Suddenly, Five went off like a shotgun.

"You know what else is insane?" he demanded. "I look like a 13-year-old boy, yet legally, Mina and I are twins, Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he's fooling everyone with that overcoat." I couldn't help snickering, but as my siblings’ judgmental eyes fell to me, I awkwardly cleared my throat and shifted my weight a bit. "Everything about us is insane. It always has been."

"He's got a point there." Klaus' voice had been growing weaker by the second.

"We didn't choose this life, we're just living it. For the next three days, anyway."

"But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died," Allison argued. "Why is this any different? Why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?"

"Because this time, I'm here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire."

Allison's aversion suddenly melted away at the mention of her daughter's name. Her facial expression softened for a moment, breaking down her defenses.

"You know her name?"

"I do, and I'd like to live long enough to meet her." Finally, we had won her over.

"All right. Let's get this bastard."

"You had me at Gerald Jenkins." I scoffed at Diego.

" _Harold_ Jenkins," I corrected.

"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anyone else." I rolled my eyes before looking down at my brother.

"I think it goes without saying I'm with you." He smiled at me as I pulled him into a side hug. "And Luther?" 

"Yeah, you go. I'm gonna stay and go through Dad's files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the moon."

"Seriously? Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?"

"No. 'Watch for threats', that's what he told me. You think that's a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow."

"No, we should stick together." Although I knew Allison's true motivations, she had a point. Didn't make it any less weird, though.

"We don't have time for this."

"Let's roll. I know where you can find this asshole. Klaus, you're with me." Slowly, Klaus managed to sit up, his skin glowing with beads of sweat. Was he sick? What was going on with him?

"Yeah. I--I'm good. I think I'll, uh..." He stood up, clutching his stomach the entire time. "I think I'll pass, I'm... feeling a little under the weather, so, uh..."

We didn't have all our troops, but this was the best it was going to get. I led everyone out to my car, allowing Diego to drive as I took a seat in the back with my brother. This was better than nothing, at least. Maybe we'd have a chance.


	18. A Shrine to Your Death

Diego switched the car off as he parked in front of the police station, staring at the brick building for a moment before turning and addressing the rest of us.

"I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record," he explained. "We gotta get our hands on his file."

"And your plan is to what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?" I challenged, hoping he had something better than a blind race inside. Diego didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to police, so I wanted to make sure he actually knew what he was doing and wouldn't impede any of our progress so far.

"I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I've spent a lot of time inside." My suspicion only grew when I noticed he kept glancing in the mirrors, keeping an eye on two cops talking on the sidewalk.

"Handcuffed," I spat back.

"Whatever. Here's the plan."

"Plan? I'm just gonna blink in and get the file." Although that likely would be a bit more foolproof than Diego walking in there, too many possibilities for disaster still stuck out. Five's powers were fickle, seemingly picking and choosing when they wanted to work, when they'd been exhausted, and how far was too far too jump. I couldn't risk him going in there and getting arrested.

"No, that's not... You don't know the ins and outs of this place, okay?" Diego shook his head.

"I literally just did this yesterday." My eyebrows flew up as I stared at my brother.

"What?" His eyes suddenly went wide, realizing he's slipped up somehow.

" _My_ yesterday, not _your_ yesterday." He said that so casually, as though I should have known this already, but I just threw my hands up in frustration. 

"Not the part I was focused on, but okay."

"It'll take me two seconds. Why don't I just go?"

"Listen to me. _You_ are not going in there. I made a call. That's what a leader does. He leads." I rolled my eyes at Diego. This wasn't about to turn into some petty mark for his ongoing fight with Luther for who was the actual leader of the family. "I'll be back, don't stray too far."

Allison, Five, and I sat in silence for a while, awkwardly tapping our feet or the seats around us in an attempt to occupy our time. I let out a long sigh, some of my hair blowing up for a second before falling back in front of my eyes. 

"I need to call Vanya," Allison stated suddenly, opening the car door and sliding out onto the pavement. Five and I exchanged a glance, shrugged, and decided it was better to tag along than just sit in an awkward silence and pretend everything was normal. He and I leaned against the wall of a building, trying to act casual as people walked by.

"So, what exactly did you do?" I finally asked, hoping I could get answers from him instead of his usual deflection. 

"What I had to," Five answered shortly.

"No, see, that doesn't fly anymore. 'Cause, see, now I know that 'what I had to' could mean going out and slaughtering a bunch of people, or it could just be grabbing that piece of paper and running." His sudden silence didn't give me hope.

"A bit of both, actually." I sighed, leaning my head against the concrete and closing my eyes. "I got the paper through researching, that part was true, but... just for good measure, I took grenades to some parts of the building."

"Jesus, Five."

"These are the people to give instructions to the assassins. I got rid of their main way to get those papers to the killers. That's not a bad thing, right?"

"And how many people got hurt?"

"I didn't stay to find out," he admitted. "But I got what we needed, I got a briefcase so I could get out of there, and now I'm here. You have to understand that."

“I’m trying my best to be cool about all this, but when you tell me you blew up a goddamn building, that makes it a little rough.”

“I told you, it was just parts of the building,” he hissed, fists clenching. “I got rid of the most important elements of the assassinations: the briefcases and the orders. Not to mention I dealt with the head of everything, meaning that they’ll be scrambling to pull everything back together, and no way will they be able to do that in time to prevent us from stopping this apocalypse.”

“You said they can use time travel, right? What’s stopping someone from finding a way to just go back to an earlier time and send a message?”

“The briefcases are how they travel, Mina. How the hell are you not getting this?” I clenched my jaw a little tighter.

“Because this is still the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I’m just trying my best to defend your position and get on with it so that we can stop whatever’s supposed to wipe everyone out.” I took a moment to compose myself, hoping that none of the people passing by on the street had caught enough of that to become suspicious. “Look, at the end of the day, you’re still my brother, so I’m stuck with you; unlike any of these other nut jobs we call siblings, we’re _actually_ related; I’ve got no choice in that. I’ve made this speech to you what feels like a million times at this point, but you can’t seem to get it through your head, so I’m going to give it again: I am, as best as I can, trying to make sure we can stop all this, and no one dies in the process. But all of this information is a lot to deal with, so you’ve got to understand that I’m going to question things. Is that clear?”

Five's eyes widened as he stared at me, falling completely silent. In these past five days, I’d lectured him more than I had in our childhood, which really said something about the both of us.

“I’m sorry, Mina,” he finally muttered, after too much silence. “I just… I want to stop this thing, you know?” I smiled a little, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve just got to make sure you don’t get killed in the process. I do _not_ need Dad’s ghost haunting me for that… or yours.”

We both chuckled a little, and just like always, the angry division created broke down. Just in time, too, as Allison hung up the phone and Diego emerged from the alleyway holding a baby blue folder.

"So?"

"You're welcome." As Diego showed the object off, Allison reached out and snatched it from his hands, opening it up to see what information we could get about this Harold Jenkins. She'd only been reading for a couple seconds when her jaw dropped slightly.

"Holy shit."

"What?" I mimicked her expression when she turned the file outwards, presenting the picture in there openly for all of us.

"Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody." I knew I didn't trust that face, now I understood why. He had that look, the one of a man with something sinister to hide. "He was convicted of killing his father..." Allison completely processed what she had just read, her expression souring even more than it already had. "Oh, my God."

"We need to go get Vanya. _Now_."

I leaned over her shoulder, reading the address currently listed on the file. The four of us rushed back to my car, and as quickly as I could, I drove to the address. The house looked just like any of the others on the street-- quaint and beautiful, exactly what you'd expect from a little home in the suburbs. But, much like Leonard himself, something sinister likely slumbered inside, threatening to spill out the moment we arrived.

"Be careful, okay?" Allison warned as we all approached the front stoop. "We don't know what Peabody's capable of."

"Yeah, he didn't seem dangerous when I first saw him. Looked kinda scrawny."

"Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers. I mean, look at him." I pointed toward my brother.

"Thanks," he deadpanned. I smirked at him and nudged his side, dispelling any possible anger that could have caused between us.

"Good point. So what's this guy want with Vanya?"

"I don't know. How about we ask him after I kill him?" I shot Five a warning glance. He sounded _way_ too enthusiastic about that for my liking, even if we technically were _supposed_ to kill this guy.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey, look, I'm gonna burst through--" Before Diego could finish, he turned around, noticing Allison had already vanished into the house. "You know what? It would be nice for people just to stick to--"

"You charged up enough?" Five asked me. I nodded, and in a split second, he grabbed my hand and we both jumped into the house. We laughed as Diego jumped in through the window, completely shattering it. Leonard would know someone had broken in now, but I guess that was fine.

"Subtle," I teased. Five opened the door, pointing at it as it hit his brother's foot a little. 

"You know, the door was unlocked."

"Yeah, well, my way works fine." He stood up, picking pieces of glass off his black sweater. "Spread out. Yell if you, uh... you know, you're in trouble."

"Ah, inspiring leadership," Five joked.

"One of the greats." I tapped his arm. "I'll go check upstairs, you and Allison take the basement, Diego's clearly stuck to this floor."

"Okay. Stay safe, sis."

"You, too."

I headed up the stairs, peeking in drawers and underneath beds, attempting to find anything that could incriminate him, or reveal what he really wanted from Vanya. Unfortunately, if there _was_ anything, he'd hidden it too well. There was only one place left-- the attic. Although the door made it look like it hadn't been touched in years, it was still good to check. I violently yanked on the rope, jumping out of the way as the ladder fell down. The moment I entered the room, my eyes widened, staring in horror at everything around me. Umbrella Academy posters clung to the walls, the eyes on the masks scratched out. Action figures sat on shelves, the faces melted long ago. I could barely find the voice to call out to my siblings.

"Guys, you need to see this."

Only a few moments later, Allison, Diego, and Five came rushing up to me, their expressions matching mine only a few seconds later.

"All our faces are burnt off."

"Well, that's not creepy," Diego muttered. "This guy's got some serious issues."

"Shit," he and Five gasped at the same time.

"This was never about Vanya. This was about us."

Despite the murder shrine in front of our eyes, the world around me suddenly became irrelevant as Five gasped in pain, swaying violently. His skin had turned a sickly pale, sweat causing his hair to stick to his forehead. He looked right up at me for a second, right before his legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed onto the dusty carpet.

"Five. Wh--" He groaned in pain as my eyes moved to his leg, noticing a significant amount of blood dripping down. I crouched down to him, noticing the dark red stain originated on his sweater vest. "Wh--Blood." I carefully peeled up his vest and shirt, grimacing and starting to panic at the deep, shrapnel-filled wound on his torso.

"Jesus, Five."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I demanded. He grabbed onto my hand as I stared down at him. I'd officially gone into full panic mode, concerned only with getting my brother somewhere safe and getting him fixed up.

"He have to keep going," he wheezed. "So... close." I grabbed tightly onto him as he fell silent.

"Five. Five!"

I moved my arms under my little brother, scooping him up and rushing down to the car. Allison helped me lay him down in the back seat, resting his head in my lap.

"Come on, go, Diego!" I begged.

I ran a hand through Five's hair as he continued to hiss and weakly groan in pain, trying to keep my cries silent. I _had_ to save my little brother, there wasn't an option there. Even if it meant we couldn't stop the end of the world. I'd rather go out with the rests of humanity than lose my one real family member.


	19. Five on the Chain

Diego grabbed onto Five's legs and helped me carry him into the house as Allison held the door open for us. I'd managed to calm down a little, but my desperation hadn't faded for a second. We were losing time to save him, and despite my begging, Diego refused to go to a hospital, for whatever reason.

"We should have taken him to the hospital," I snapped again, staring daggers at Diego.

"A kid with shrapnel wounds might raise some questions," Five whispered.

"Yeah, well, so does the murder shrine in Harold Jenkins' attic."

We laid him down on the couch, and immediately, I removed my sweater and used it to put compression on his wound. Allison and Diego stepped back a bit, giving me my space to worry. Besides, they knew if they got a little too close, in my hysterical state, I'd likely end up hitting one of them unintentionally. 

"He's still losing blood?" I looked back at Allison and Diego. "What do we do?"

"We need to get the shrapnel out."

I was about to ask him how exactly we should do that, when I noticed the distant look he had taken on. Slowly, I followed his gaze, spotting the blonde, robotic figure of Mom pacing around the lobby, looking for anything that needed to be cleaned. That same tune she always hummed lilted through the tense silence as she remained completely unaware all three of us were watching her.

"Diego, where are you going?" Allison called out. My eyes moved back to Five, trying to tighten the sweater as he placed a hand on my wrist. 

"You've got to stay with me, okay? Just keep talking, I don't care about what."

He chuckled absentmindedly, pointing to the pendant dangling from the chain on my neck. It took him a while to be able to speak, stuttering and wheezing for a while as he struggled even to breathe.

"That's my number," he whispered. I chuckled a little bit, trying to play along with his delirium. "You know... the day Dad gave those to us... I didn't understand why." 

"Well, we were practically babies." I found my voice going up a bit, humoring him. "When you give a child something that isn't a toy, they don't really understand."

"But then... when The Handler came to get me... she said... she said you should... come work... with The Commission." My eyes widened a little bit as Diego and Mom came into the room. Allison held a hand out in front of them, keeping them from acting yet. "I talked about you... a lot. And... and so she knew who you were." I noticed his pauses were starting to disappear, giving me a little bit of hope. "And I said... you always protected me... and so I couldn't let you come and work for them."

"Not to mention, I wouldn't have done a damn thing," I laughed.

"That's what I told her." He lightly tapped the pendant on my necklace. "I know why Dad gave them to us."

"Mm?" I motioned for Diego and Mom to come over, so they could move him up to his room. 

"It's so that... even when we're not together... we're always protecting each other." I rolled my eyes at him, gently removing the sweater.

"That's cheesy, little bro," I sighed before turning to Mom. "He has a bunch of shrapnel in his lower abdomen. It needs to be taken out. _Now_."

"Of course, sweetie."

I exchanged a wary glance with Diego, then followed Mom up to Five's room. Despite her warnings, I refused to leave the room as she operated on Five. I sat in the corner, keeping one panicked eye on her the entire time. After what I heard from her and Pogo last night, I didn't trust her alone with anyone, but _especially_ not my little brother. The call to find out what they were hiding pulled at me, but I had more important matters at hand.

For a moment, my eyes wandered away, and I spotted Diego and Allison in the doorway. They were staring at me, as though somehow, I would have noticed them earlier that way. Sighing, I stood up from my chair and joined them in the hall, making sure I could still see Five and Mom.

"Anything?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"There's no answer at Vanya's place," Allison informed me. "And the receptionist at her music school said she was a no-show for her lessons today." My brows lowered a bit.

"Huh..." Diego just turned away from us, refusing to say anything at first. "Hey, you okay?" Finally, I managed to tear my eyes away from my brother.

"Yeah. I don't know, it's just surreal seeing her." I nodded. "I just wanna tell her that I'm s..." I cocked my head at him as he cut himself off. "We don't have enough time. We've gotta go."

"I don't know Diego," Allison sighed. "Five is laying there, unconscious. We need him."

"We can do this ourselves."

"We did that already, remember?" I scoffed. "We all ended up dead."

"I don't know, I'm just... I'm thinking I should see Claire before--"

"You can't run away from this, Allison. That's what started this whole mess in the first place. Luther was right..." Allison and I both smirked at Diego.

"I didn't think I would ever hear you say those words," she laughed.

"Yeah, well... we gotta stick together." Although I knew Diego had a point, I just couldn't leave Five here. 

"Where do we start?"

"There's no other addresses in the file, but there is another relation listed. Jenkins' grandmother. She lived near Jackpine Road."

"You think he took her there?"

"It's a good place to start." Neither of them noticed that I wasn't following them at first, but when they turned to me, I felt my heart drop. "Mina? You coming?" I pointed back toward Five's room.

"I-I know you said we should stick together, but... I'm sorry, guys, I can't just leave him here. You both go, I promise I'm not running away. I wouldn’t dare." Diego nodded, before the two of them came back and hugged me. "Stay safe, both of you."

"You, too, whatever trouble you and Five get into." I chuckled.

"How do you know it's gonna be trouble?"

"Because that's all you two would do when we were kids."

"Fair point."

With that, I turned back around and sat down in the chair again. Mom finished taping the gauze to Five's stomach before buttoning up the pajama shirt, tucking the covers up around him. She kept that same, pleasant smile remained plastered on her face, simply a part of her at this point. I watched as she cleaned up and made sure the IV was properly adjusted before I spoke up.

"Hey, Mom?" She practically floated as she turned to look at me. "I... I have to ask you something."

"What's on your mind, sweetheart?"

"Um... last night, I heard you and Pogo talking to each other while I was heading up to my room." I watched her face falter for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask. What were you guys talking about?" She looked as though she were processing, attempting to come up with something.

"Miss Mina." I whipped around, my heart hammering in my chest as I looked down at Pogo in the doorway. "It is not polite to eavesdrop."

"Oh, you mean like you're doing right now?" I shot back. "Look, I'm sorry, but my patience is running real thin here. How do I know my brother is safe in Mom's hands if you're hiding something 'the children' aren't supposed to know?"

"It is in Grace's programming to protect. I can assure you, Master Five is in safe hands." I shook my head, grabbing Mom by the shoulders and starting to guide her out of the room.

"Both of you need to get out until you're willing to tell me what's..." 

I trailed off as I looked out the window, spotting red and blue lights flickering right outside. Without thinking, I pushed past the two of them and ran out of the house, pushing through the gate right as Diego dropped to the ground, raising his free arm in surrender. Several cops stared him down, pointing their guns in his direction.

"What-- what the hell?" I took large strides toward the scene, eyes wide. One of the cops spotted me and put his weapon away, approaching me and attempting to cut me off.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to wait here."

"What the hell are you doing to my brother?" I demanded, trying my best to stare him in the eyes.

"He's being arrested under suspicion of the murder of Detective Eudora Patch." I scoffed at him, jutting my head out to the side.

"Okay, Diego might be a little unstable and kinda brash--"

"Thanks, sis!" I heard him shout.

"Shut up! He may be a little strange, but he would never kill someone. You have to let him go, please." The officer shrugged.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but there's reasonable suspicion. We're going to have to take him in." I rolled my eyes. 

"Bunch of pricks," I muttered before turning on my heel and storming back in the house.

Pogo and Mom had disappeared, leaving me to watch over Five. I sat in the corner of the room again, swinging my legs as I took deep breaths. I couldn't give in to what my mind wanted, what my habits begged me to do. I didn't know how to occupy my time, feeling almost out of place. Allison had gone to get Vanya, Diego had just been arrested, and I had no clue where the hell Luther and Klaus had gone. I know the apocalypse wasn't supposed to happen for another couple of days, but honestly, this sort of felt like the end of the world. How did things fall apart so fast?

"Mina?"

Oh, thank God,

I looked up as Klaus set a hand on the back of my chair, offering him whatever semblance of a smile I could muster up. He himself looked worse for the wear, coated in a veil of sweat and reeking of some scent I wasn't familiar with. Regardless, I couldn't have been happier to see him, and I gladly accepted the hug he offered when he noticed my distress.

"Hey," I whispered. "Where did you go?" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, suddenly avoiding my eyes. "Klaus..."

"Look, before I tell you, I'd just like to make it clear that I was going after Luther." I raised an eyebrow at him, but allowed him to continue. "I was at a rave," he spat out. I'm sure he expected me to be angry with him, but given what he prefaced that revelation with, I was just left confused.

"What the hell was Luther doing at a rave?"

"That's the thing, see... While you guys were out, he found all the reports he sent to Dad over the years, completely unopened." My head pushed forward a little, gawking at Klaus in disbelief. "And then... he kinda lost it, and I found him at a rave."

"Dad never looked at those reports?" Klaus shook his head. "Jesus. I mean, I can't blame Luther. I'd lose my mind, too, if I found out this big thing I'd done was all for nothing. He was on his own up there, and Dad never even took the time to humor him." Although I felt incredibly bad for Luther, some light came from this whole situation. "On the bright side, maybe he'll finally shut up about the moon."

"Nothing would make me happier." We both laughed quietly, trying to keep from waking Five up. "What happened to him?" I looked down at my feet for a second.

"Oh... uh, he had some shrapnel in his stomach, Mom had to get it out."

"Yeah, I saw her walking around. When did that happen?"

"Last night," I sighed. "I heard her and Pogo talking, and whatever they were discussing... there's something suspicious going on. He said we couldn't know about whatever it was. I'm actually kind of worried she may actually have had something to do with Dad's death. And given that Pogo was the one conspiring, I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved, too."

"You really think they would do something to Dad, though?" I shook my head, burying my face in one of my hands.

"I didn't want to believe it at first. But Dad treated them both like shit for as long as I can remember, and I'm sure it only got worse when we all left. If they found a way to get rid of him and make it look natural..." The thought of it made me shudder. "That's why I've been with him the whole time." I nodded my head toward Five, still content in sleep.

"How far did you get before he collapsed?"

"Uh, well, we managed to get Harold Jenkins' file. Shocking revelation number three of the hour-- he's Leonard, that guy Vanya's dating." Klaus' eyes widened, and I watched genuine worry take over his face.

"You're kidding."

"No. And get this-- when we went to his house, I found this whole display in his attic centered around all of us. He had posters and action figures, all with the faces scratched out or melted. But we didn't get the chance to find out why he had that."

"Wh-- we have to go after Vanya!" I held a finger up to my lips, trying to shush Klaus so he wouldn't wake Five. "Sorry, sorry. But Mina, this is serious! She could be in danger."

"Allison's already on that. I trust she can handle herself and get Vanya back. In the meantime, we have to wait for Five to heal, and then we can go after her, okay?" I could tell Klaus still wasn't completely happy about that, but it would have to do for now. "We all need some sleep, we'll gather up whoever we have left and explain before heading out. Allison can handle herself until then." I started to head for the door, when Klaus moved toward its frame, blocking my way. "What?"

"I wouldn't go sleep in your room, if I were you." Immediately, I became skeptical.

"Oh, my God, Klaus. What did you do in there?"

"What? Nothing! How could you accuse me--" He took one look at my face and backed down. "Yeah, okay, I get that. But seriously, I don't think you want to do that."

"And why is that exactly?" He cleared his throat, avoiding an answer for a while.

"Luther, uh... he's not alone." It took me a second to catch on, but when I did, I swear my brain went completely blank.

"Well then..." I muttered, still attempting to forget I'd even heard that. "I'll stay in here for the night, then. Thanks for the warning."

"That's what I'm here for, sis." Klaus pulled me into another hug before heading out and toward the stairs. "Good night, sis."

"'Night."

I grabbed a blanket from the chair, pulling it down toward the floor. Just before I settled in and went to sleep, I noticed the glint of the '4' pin still on the lapel of Five's discarded uniform. Gently, I removed it from the blazer and pinned it right under the umbrella symbol on his pajamas before laying on the ground and calling it a night.


	20. Scattered Troops

"Five! Mina!"

I bolted up suddenly, jarred awake by Klaus' shouting and the ringing of a bell. The moment my back went completely upright, the consequences of sleeping on the floor struck me, and I crumpled up a bit. From behind me, I heard an intense hiss of pain, and when I turned around, I noticed Five gripping his wound.

"Shit." I pushed myself off the floor and leaned over Five. "You okay? Does anything feel like it reopened?" He reached his other arm up and moved me away a little.

"I'm fine, Mina."

"Right, right." I backed up, trying to erase my sheepish expression. "Sorry." My eyes moved back up to Klaus, trying my best not to glare at him with contempt. After all, Klaus was just being Klaus, using his own methods to get everyone up. Still, his brother had just been injured, he needed to be careful. "What's up, Klaus?" His eyes went wide, as though he'd forgotten for a moment.

"Oh! Uh, there's important family business. If you guys could meet me downstairs, that'd be phenomenal."

"Oy..." I rolled up Five's sleeve and carefully removed the IV, taking care not to touch the silver spine or stab my brother again. "Here, let me--" Strangely enough, Five allowed me to help him up and guide him downstairs. Klaus bounced around the kitchen, moving from cabinets to the stove to the coffee machine, pulling everything together for us. Luther was already waiting, looking as though he wanted to just collapse right there and wither away, poised to take a sip of his coffee. Before he could even get the mug close to his lips, however, Five reached over and snatched it from him, taking a sip before scoffing. I smiled graciously at Klaus as he set a mug of tea down for me.

"Jesus. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" I pointing accusingly at my brother, raising my eyebrows.

"Nope, you can't do that one," I warned. "'Cause, see, I know it's a hyperbole, but with your streak, you could seriously go out and kill someone for coffee." He rolled his eyes at me, but shut his mouth anyways.

"Can we get started?" Luther muttered, gripping the side of his head.

"Has anyone seen any of the others? Allison? Diego? No?" I looked down at my hands, choosing not to speak. Clearly, Klaus didn't remember our conversation from last night, and I was okay with that for the time being. We had more pressing issues. "All right, then, this is the closest thing to a quorum..." He knocked on the table, causing Luther to flinch. "...that we're gonna get. Now, listen up. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out." He hesitated for a while, banging the spatula he was holding against his other hand, looking over all our faces. "Yeah." He still remained quiet, causing Five to move his head forward a little.

"Klaus?" I seemed to snap him out of a trance.

"I conjured Dad last night." 

All three of our eyes went wide as we stared, attempting to believe what he was telling us. Normally, I'd be on Klaus' side, but he told us that he couldn't conjure unless he was sober, and he had made no effort toward that lately. How could we be sure it wasn't just some drug-spurred hallucination?

Five, unlike Luther and I, seemed intrigued, looking to Klaus in a way that urged him to continue speaking.

"You said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years," Luther argued.

"Ah, yes, I know, but I'm sober. Ta-da!" His demeanor didn't do much to convince me. I had never really seen his personality without the drugs, but it couldn't have been this similar to him when his mind was fading away. "I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this... conversation with dear old Daddy himself." I shook my head, leaning it against one of my hands.

"Does anyone have some aspirin?" Luther asked as he shifted in his seat.

"Top shelf, next to the crackers," I informed him, pointing in that direction. I'd had to open that box far too many times in our childhood.

"Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, all right? This really happened, I swear." If any one of us was going to be able to deal with Klaus' shit, it was me. I knew my two other brothers were looking at me, waiting for me to say something useful, so I swallowed down my disbelief.

"Okay, fine. I'll play," I sighed. "What did the old man have to say?"

"Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life. Yada, yada, yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right?" I spared a glance at Five, suddenly regretting my decision to egg him on. "But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because... he killed himself."

While Luther scoffed and got up from the table, I leaned back a bit, suddenly intrigued. Honestly, the flair of it all didn't seem _that_ obscure for Dad. Not to mention, there were thousands of reasons a person could kill themselves, either on purpose or on accident. There was something deeper there.

"I don't have time for your games, Klaus," Luther muttered.

"I'm telling you the truth, Luther. I'm telling you the truth."

"Why'd he do it then?" Five asked, reading my mind.

"He said it was the only way to get us all home again." Luther shook his head, still in disbelief.

"No. Dad wouldn't just kill himself."

"Ah, you said it yourself," I argued. "He was depressed. Holed up in his office and room all day and night."

"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors." I scoffed at Luther, moving my eyes to glare up at him.

"Like sending someone to the moon for no reason?" Klaus spat, slamming his hands down on the table.

"Name one thing about Dad that _wasn't_ strange."

"I swear to God, Klaus, if you're lying..."

"I'm not. I'm not."

"Master Klaus is correct."

We all turned our heads as Pogo limped into the room, resting more of his weight on the cane than usual. Something about his expression almost appeared regretful, his entire demeanor switching to that of a man carrying a heavy burden.

"Regretfully... I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."

"What?" Luther gasped.

"So did Grace." Slowly, the truth of the matter started to dawn on me. This must have been what he and Mom were talking about. The fact that I let them near Five...

My hands clenched into fists, and for the first time in 17 years, I felt myself growing genuinely angry.

"It was a difficult decision for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know. Prior to your father's death, Grace's programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."

"Sick bastard," Five whispered as genuine disgust started to seep in. Even if her programming had been adjusted back by Pogo, what if Mom ‘broke’ again? She could have seriously hurt Five, at the very least. I knew I shouldn't have trusted his life in their hands.

"So the security tape we saw?" Luther's voice sounded croaked and broken, as though someone had sucked his soul right out of him.

"It was meant to further the murder mystery. Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together..." Now even Klaus was groaning in disgust, regretting what he had learned. "...would reignite your desire to be a team again." 

"And to what end?" Five demanded.

"To save the world again."

"All right." It almost sounded as though Klaus were mocking Pogo.

"First the moon and now this. You wanted me to search for answers and said nothing." Pogo's face crumpled in regret, but I had no sympathy to offer at this moment. "Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?"

"Hey, calm down, Luther."

"No, I won't calm down. We've been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted."

"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther," Pogo argued. "I... I had no choice." I tensed a little as Luther stepped closer to Pogo. As angry as I was, the thought of what Luther could do to him was more concerning. He'd made a sudden switch, growing hostile and angry out of nowhere. While I understood the reason why, this was just jarring.

"There's always a choice."

With that, he stormed from the room, leaving Pogo to follow behind moments later. I sighed and took a sip of my tea, which had gone cold in that time, and looked down at the orange liquid, refusing to meet any of my family's eyes. I couldn't explain whatever emotions were running through me, that wasn't something I'd ever been able to voice easily. Often, I'd just scream and move on, but I felt that wasn't appropriate right now. So, instead, I sat there in an awkward silence with Five and Klaus, contemplating this whole situation. 

"I gotta think," Five muttered before jumping. I knew where he went, and ordinarily, I would have gone after him. But I figured he needed his space for a while-- we all honestly did.

"I get it if you want to bail, too, Mina," Klaus sighed, sliding further down in the chair. I weakly shook my head, hair bouncing a little in time with my internal rhythm.

"I feel like I can't move," I admitted. "It's like my limbs are glued to the table and chair."

"Well, _that's_ because you should eat something," he proclaimed as he jumped up from his chair. "Come on, I'll make you something." I chuckled a little, managing to look up at my brother.

"No offense, Klaus, but I don't trust you to make me breakfast. Have you ever cooked anything in your life?" His hand flew to his chest, the usual dramatics returning to him in that moment.

"I can at least make eggs," he defended. "I just choose not to."

"Mm-hmm, okay," I scoffed. He continued to look at me with big, sad eyes, and although it normally wouldn't work, there was something about him now that made me cave. "Fine. But if I die, you have to tell Five and Diego that _you_ killed me." His eyes widened.

"I'll make sure not to mess it up."

I had to admit, the kitchen started to smell pretty good as Klaus cooked my breakfast. He busted about, juggling all the elements he was making pretty well. Considering I was sure I'd never seen him eat breakfast before, I was impressed. I couldn't fight my smile as he set down the plate in front of me, the steam wafting into my face and causing a warm feeling to spread across it. Without thinking, I started to eat, failing to notice the smile on Klaus' face.

"What?" I asked after finally looking up.

"I know everyone thinks I'm completely oblivious, but... I know this is a big deal." I looked back down at the plate for a moment. My instincts told me to move it away, get rid of it, but that urge only lasted for a moment. It faded for the first time in ages, leaving me almost feeling... completely unaffected.

"Well, healing is a process, I know that. But... I'm willing to try. I've already stopped dancing all the time, when things go wrong or I get upset, and now, since Five came back... it's like my appetite all of a sudden reared its head. And I know it's always been there, but I ignored it for so long because all I thought was that I had to be perfect, that I had to look like the other girls." Klaus' reached out and squeezed my arm affectionately.

"You and Five always brought out the best-- and the worst, but we won't focus on that-- in each other. Having him back helped you a lot, we both know that. But, in the end, _you_ made that decision. You resolved to fix what you'd done, and now you're doing it!"

I raised an eyebrow at my brother, still wary of his words. Sure, he'd claimed he was going through the same thing at the moment, but Klaus making the sudden switch almost scared me a little. However, in the end, it was good he wanted to get clean. I'd been bugging him about it and nagging him since we were teens, trying everything I could to cut off his resources. But that wasn't the right move, it never was, and I understood that now.

"I don't know what to do with myself now," I admitted. "This is the part where I'd go to classes and rehearsals, or dance in my studio for a while, but I promised I wouldn't do that. I need something to occupy my time." Klaus cleared my dishes, then grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs. He plopped me down in a wooden chair in his room, then opened a drawer and pulled out a purple ball of yarn.

"I mess with this when I get fidgety. It's good for the twitchy hands." He wigged his fingers before tossing the ball to me. We did this for a while, sending it back and forth and smiling like idiots, before Five came in, adjusting his tie.

"Hey. Get up," he ordered sharply. "We're going."

"Where?" Klaus asked casually, still twiddling the loose strings in his fingers.

"To save the world."

"Oh, is that all?" Five and I shot him the same confused look. "Great." Klaus got up from his position on his bed and started to look for a relatively clean shirt to put on.

"So, Pogo said Dad killed himself to get us all back together, right?"

"Yeah, so?" I tried my best not to chastise Klaus for his flippancy.

"So it got me thinking. I had to jump to the future to figure out what happened, but Dad, he can't time travel. So how'd the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?"

"Well, you know--" Five cut me off before I could finish mentioning anything about a coincidence.

"Don't answer. That was purely rhetorical." I rolled my eyes, but shut my mouth and allowed him to continue. "Truth is, our whole lives, he's been telling us we'd save the world from an impending apocalypse."

"Yeah, but I always thought he just said that to scare us into doing the dishes," Klaus joked.

"Me, too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen?"

"Yeah, but how?"

"No idea. But the fact remains, his fakakta plan worked." My brows narrowed a bit, trying to decipher that statement. Never, in my life, had I heard someone describe a plan as 'fakakta', and the last person I expected to hear it from was Five. "We all came home. We're here, we might as well save the world."

"Oh, yeah? What, like, the three of us?" Klaus sounded intrigued at this point, despite the fact he'd been so hesitant moments ago.

"Uh, well, ideally, no, but... gotta work with what I've got." Klaus and I followed him out of the room, choosing to ignore the blatant insult. Diego suddenly came bursting in, running into his room as he struggled to throw his jacket off. "Where have you been?"

"Jail," he answered casually, before poking his head out through the doorway. "Mina, did you not tell them?" I stuttered for a moment as everyone's eyes turned to me.

"There were more pressing matters," I answered quickly. "What’s important is that you're here now."

"Where's Luther?" he demanded, moving on.

"Haven't seen him since breakfast," Five admitted.

"Yeah. Two days until the world ends, he picks a great time to drop off the grid."

"Shit." I couldn't help but scoff as Diego clipped that stupid belt back onto himself. Even after all that had happened these last few days, he still thought he was some vigilante. "Allison is in danger."

"Do you still have the address for the cabin?" I asked Diego, sliding my hands into the back pockets of my jeans.

"Yeah. You wanna drive?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you're _offering_ that to me?" My head whipped around to all my brothers. "None of you should be driving and you all know it. Don't act like you're doing me some favor by letting me drive, any other options would get us arrested or killed."

With that, I headed out to my car, allowing the rest of them to follow moments later. We had to find Luther first, get him to come with us, then go get Vanya in whatever way we could. Obviously, the goal was to get rid of Harold Jenkins, since he's the one the Commission had been ordered to protect, but I didn't exactly want to be around for that. 

"Where do you think Luther is?" I asked as soon as everyone had buckled in. I could see Five crumple in pain a bit, and so I reached over, letting him take my hand and squeeze it. When we were younger, even this morning, he would have slapped it away. But sometimes, the support of a sibling was appreciated.

"You know that bar downtown." I raised an eyebrow at Klaus through the mirror, but remained silent to hear him out. We couldn't discount anything, no matter how unlike Luther it sounded. "Let's go there."

"Okay."

I tried my best to concentrate on the road, driving only with one hand so my brother could use the other as a sort of stress toy when waves of pain came over him. Occasionally, I swerved a little, but I managed to get us there and park without any major scares. Five now limped as he walked, using my arm as a crutch to support him. 

Sure enough, when we entered the desolate bar, Luther sat at one of the tables, staring down at a mug.

"Look." He glanced up at his for a moment, but rolled his eyes once he registered our presence. "Trying a little hair of the dog, are we? Hm?"

"Leave me alone," Luther muttered. Diego took a seat in the chair next to his brother, waving the rest of us away.

"Give us a minute." Klaus, Five, and I glanced at each other in confusion, but agreed anyways, stepping back and allowing Diego to say whatever he needed to his brother.

"Okay, come on. Maybe they'll brood each other to death."

"So, what exactly happened to him?" Five asked, looking up at me with curious eyes.

"Oh, uh... I guess when Luther was on the moon, he sent Dad reports, right?" Five hummed in acknowledgement. "From what Klaus told me, Luther found all of them, but they were completely unopened."

"Jesus," he scoffed. "Doesn't surprise me. Old man never really cared what Luther was doing up there, we all know it."

"He probably just sent him up there to get rid of him after the whole 'ape DNA' incident." I slumped my shoulders a little as I looked back down at my brother. "Are you feeling okay, kid?"

"It still hurts a lot, but I don’t think the wound’s opened again, so at least there's that."

Before we could talk about anything else, Diego and Luther strode over, rushing out the door. Five tried to go out with them, but Luther stepped in his way, causing him to fall back a little. Thankfully, I reached out and grabbed his shoulders in time, keeping him from falling to the ground. Despite the slight unrest, I managed to get back in the driver's seat and once everyone had buckled in, I took off toward the cabin.


	21. 30 Miles Until You Go

Had we not been racing after our sisters to prevent them from falling victim to a murderer, this drive honestly would have been pretty peaceful. Somehow, all of my brothers had fallen asleep except Klaus, who bounced his head around from looking out the window to meeting my eyes in the rear view mirror. On occasion, he'd start talking to what looked like absolute nothingness, babbling on about 'bad ideas' and 'safety', just quiet enough that I could only make out every few words. All our other siblings thought him to be off his rocker, simply speaking to the demons jumping around in his brain, but after what he said yesterday about conjuring, I sort of figured out what was going on. Although part of me begged to just leave it and let him be happy, I also wanted the truth confirmed. It would put me more at ease than never knowing.

"Klaus?" He snapped his head forward suddenly, staring at me with all the direction of a deer caught in headlights. Cautiously, as though I would bite if he got too close, he leaned forward, putting his head between the two front seats. "Who are you talking to?" His gaze moved back a bit, looking at the empty set of seats in the way back. Maybe he'd admit to it first, I didn't want him to feel like I was calling him out and put him in an awkward position.

"Huh? Oh, uh... just myself. You know, you are the best company you keep."

Oh well.

I sighed and smiled at him, shaking my head as I used the mirror to look him in the eyes. His brows raised once he noticed me staring right at him, and he squirmed a little.

"Klaus, I know Ben is with you." Slowly, his posture began to relax, and he now looked fervently between me and the back seats, where I assumed Ben must have been sitting. "I wasn't sure for a while, but after you talked about conjuring people, I realized you were never talking to yourself. You've been talking to Ben this whole time, right?"

"Well, sometimes I _am_ talking to myself. He comes in and out, but his presence is always there." I nodded slowly, following along with what he was saying while watching the road. "I don't know why he's the one that's always with me, but... he is. I can't conjure anyone else without being sober, and then they just don't go away." His voice started to croak a little, the painful memories of our childhood flooding back to him quickly.

"I know, I know," I whispered, trying to keep him from breaking down and waking the others up. If they were able to fall asleep when the situation was _this_ dire, they needed it. "What Dad made you do, locking you away for that long... it's the work of a monster. I obviously wasn't happy about it, but... I understand why you did what you did for so many years."

"It wasn't the best option, and I know that... it just got so hard." He took a deep breath, controlling himself this time. "He only talks to me when I'm sober, though. Otherwise, he just sort of sits there, slumped and brooding like Five." I laughed a little as he pointed toward my little brother, somehow managing to look angry even in his sleep.

"Is he why you decided to get clean all of a sudden?" Klaus' expression crumpled, and it took me a minute to realize I'd struck a completely different nerve-- one he'd barely mentioned to me, but I should have remembered. "Oh... oh, God, Klaus, I'm--"

"No, no, it's fine, Mina," he squeaked out. We both remained quiet for another moment, stirring the awkward moment, before I mustered up the courage to ask.

"What was his name?" Klaus' eyes went wide again as he moved from looking at me in the mirror to looking at my actual person.

"You know?" I smiled at him as I slowed for a stop sign.

"You called me one night when you were high off your ass and left me a voicemail about being pan when I was in one of my shows. So between that, and the dog tags you talked about, which are usually associated with members of the army, who are traditionally male, I sort of figured it out on my own.”

"Oh yeah..." He smiled almost fondly before coming back to reality. "Well, his name was Dave. We soldiered together in the A Shau Valley... in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast." I hesitated for a moment. A Shau was in Vietnam...

All the pieces started to click together, creating a heartbreaking and traumatizing portrait of where Klaus had traveled to.

"Well, Dave must have been a very special person... to put up with all your weird-ass shit." We both chuckled a little at that, knowing I was just teasing him.

"Yeah. Yeah, he was... He was kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and... beautiful. Beautiful. And I was... foolish enough to follow him all the way to the front line."

"You fought in that shit?" I had to admit, I was impressed.

"Oh, yeah, baby." His smile quickly faded as the memories started to come back.

"How'd they let you do that?"

"Let me? War doesn't take enough bodies. Please... including his." He fell silent, his expression wavering between regret and forcing a smile. He almost looked as though he were forbidding himself from grieving any longer. I couldn't remove my hand from the steering wheel, but if I could, I would have squeezed Klaus' tight.

"You know, Klaus... it's okay to grieve. Just because you have those powers doesn't mean you have to be completely impervious to the idea of death. I'm still afraid of getting electrocuted, when we all know damn well that it's a miracle I haven't done that to myself already, purely on accident." We both broke out into quiet laughter, dissolving some of the sadness and tension of the moment. "I've missed Ben every day of my life, ever since he... left us. It still hurts a little, thinking about the fact he was taken at such a young age. But, after all of that fades, I'm left with some pretty great memories: all those times we all snuck out to Griddy's in the middle of the night, and Ben and I would see who could eat more donuts, all those times he was there for me after Five disappeared, and all the books we would swap... Those are the things I want to remember about him. But it's perfectly fine to be upset and miss him. You can miss Dave, there's no one telling you that you can't. Just don't let it completely overwhelm you." I paused for a moment, allowing my hands to relax on the wheel. "At least you'll get to tell him how much you miss him. And I'm glad Ben is at least with me somehow."

Klaus moved himself further back in the seat, leaning more toward where I assumed Ben was sitting. He nodded his head a bit, occasionally whispering something to him before either laughing or resting his hand on his chest and muttering a small 'aw'. They talked to each other for a while before Klaus came back closer to me, wearing a big, sincere smile.

"He says he's proud of how far you've come, Mina. He's glad Five is back, he missed seeing the two of you together because you make each other less angry." I shook my head at his careful word choice. None of us were ever genuinely happy, but we could at least leave the angst behind for a little while. "And he says he loves you." 

I bit down on my tongue, holding back a surge of emotions. I couldn't accurately translate it, and restricted myself from just laughing and throwing my arms up. I took several breaths, attempting to calm myself before speaking again.

"I love all of you guys, too."

"Even Luther?" Klaus gasped, pretending to be surprised.

"Shut it. We all have our differences and squabbles-- like, all the time. But you guys were all I had growing up. Besides, at the end of the day, you're my brothers, and I wouldn't have wanted to grow up with anyone else."

Just as I finished saying that, Five opened his eyes and sat up a little, grunting in pain. I spared a glance at him, smirking as he blinked and attempted to remember where the hell he was.

"Speaking of brothers... how was your nap, Sleeping Beauty?" I taunted.

"Mina, I swear to God, I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah, okay, sure," I mocked, flashing him a cheesy grin.

"Remind me why I put up with you again?" He snapped. Clearly, post-nap Five wasn't any more agreeable than Five with no sleep whatsoever. 

"Because I'm your sister, so you have to."

"Damn, Mina, that's harsh." I looked back in the mirror to see Diego and Luther sitting up as well. The latter accidentally bumped against Klaus as he attempted to adjust himself. He just barely fit in the car to begin with, and forcing him to cram in with two of his brothers in the back didn't help at all.

"It's the same argument for all of you. Besides, I'm the one driving. You're under my control for now." 

"Yeah, speaking of which, can you go any faster?" I rolled my eyes as Luther pushed himself against my seat, making me feel slightly claustrophobic. Five turned and glared at his brother. 

"Ask her again, and I'll burn you with a cigarette lighter," he threatened.

"I can handle myself, Five," I warned. 

The last amounts of pink and blue in the sky completely disappeared as we pulled onto the back roads, carefully weaving through the woods. I could feel my heart rate start to spike as the looming trees began to clear out, making way for the pathway to a cabin tucked away in the middle. As much as I hated the thought, if someone wanted to take Vanya and kill her, this would be the perfect place. I slammed on the breaks as we came up close to the porch, causing all my brothers to lurch forward as I turned the car off. We all threw open our doors and rushed up to the wooden stairs, but a glint in the moonlight caught my eye. While Diego, Klaus, and Luther rushed inside, I wandered over to the side of the house, my eyes widening in horror as they rested on what glistened a moment ago. 

"Five!" I screamed, summoning my brother over. He looked annoyed at first, until his eyes rested on the corpse wrapped up in a black trash bag. We both just stood there in a shocked silence, unsure of what to do with this. Should we tell the police? Should we just leave it? No doubt that even if she had nothing to do with it, Vanya staying with Harold here would pin her.

"Allison! No!"

Five and I glanced at each other before rushing up into the cabin, joining the rest of our brothers. We found Luther crouched on the floor, covering whatever it was he was crying over. Carefully, I dared to peer over his shoulder, and when I did, I nearly got sick. A deep slash ran across Allison's throat, drips of blood still occasionally falling out. Her pristine, white shirt had now been tainted by the liquid, soaking through and turning it dark red. Occasionally, her eyes twitched and she let out a raspy breath, as though she were trying to speak to us.

Regret washed over me as my hand flew to my mouth, clamping tight down on it as though it would silence my sobs. If I hadn't insisted no staying back out of my own paranoia, this could have been prevented... Maybe I could have saved her, or taken her place.

My body collapsed into a nearby chair, refusing to move even after my brothers helped get Allison up and into the car. I could hear the echoes of Five trying to urge me up, but nothing could make me move from here. It felt like I was now part of the chair as I wheezed and choked on sobs, struggling to breathe. Eventually, he managed to yank my arm hard enough to get me to stand, and as I stared at the blood stains on the carpet, he led me out into the car and into the passenger seat. 

Swiftly, Five buckled my seat belt for me and climbed into the driver's side. I didn't bother to chastise him this time, an officer would see the scene and understand. All I could think about was how I could have saved her, how I could have come with her...

This was all my fault.


	22. Don't Dance Away the Pain

I heard the tires screech as Five pulled in next to the Academy. The moment the car came to a stop, my brothers jumped out and rushed Allison inside, while Five came over to my side of the car and got me out, grabbing my hand to drag me in. I still couldn't completely process what was going on, and as a result, had all the composure and coordination of a limp noodle. However, my mind started to come back to me as we entered the old Infirmary and Mom began to evaluate Allison.

"She's suffered a severe laceration to her larynx," she informed all of us. "One of you will need to give blood."

"I will," All five of us stated at the same time. Immediately, I glared at Five and pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"You've lost way too much blood these past few days. I'm not sure you can handle losing anymore."

"I'd caution against you donating, either, Miss Mina," Pogo warned as he limped closer. "Although you are making improvements, you are still not physically healthy enough to safely donate blood." I shrugged my shoulders, pretending I didn't feel more guilt attack me.

"Fair enough."

"I'm doing it," Luther stated, acting as though we all should have known that already.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible with mine." I could see the moment Luther's ego took a hit. Pogo was completely right, but I could tell Luther wanted to be the hero who swooped in and saved the day, so the fact he was helpless in this scenario must have killed him on the inside.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Klaus tried to reassure him. "I--I got this big guy. I--I love needles." He smacked the crook of his elbow, as though that would somehow help.

"Master Klaus. Your blood is... How shall I say this? Too polluted."

"Move," Diego ordered, pushing the rest of us aside so he could stand next to Mom. He rolled up his sleeve confidently, keeping a brave face for now. There was just one problem...

The moment Mom pulled out the needle and presented it to Diego, his face went pale, and he let out a single whimper before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. I suppose it was the thought that counted, but the fact he'd been so dedicated to the cause he forgot his own phobia honestly impressed me a little. We all stared at Diego on the floor for a moment, contemplating what to do.

"Stick him." My eyes widened, and I stuck my hands up in surrender. 

"Remind me never to piss off Pogo," I muttered. 

Grace inserted the needle into Diego's arm and twisted the tube in, beginning to draw blood from his vein. We all stood there and watched for a while, but slowly, the images came crawling back. The dead faces appeared in front of my eyes, taunting me with what I could have done. I started to hyperventilate, causing my conscious siblings to look my way in alarm. My brain started to scream, every little piece of me gave up on whatever little progress I had made. I needed to go do this, get my mind off of things and fix it all.

I pushed Klaus out of the way as I sprinted down the hall, ignoring the shouts of my siblings. If I ran fast enough and locked the door, there was nothing they could do.

"Mina!" Luther shouted.

"Mina, get back here! Don't do this!" I heard Klaus beg.

"You guys stay here, I've got this."

I'd just barely reached the door, when Five jumped right in front of me and pushed me backwards. I stumbled a bit, but as I regained my balance, a sort of strength surged through me, and I clenched my fists as I stared him down.

"Out of the way, Five," I growled.

"You can't do this, Mina. I need you to take a breath, take a moment." Part of me knew he was just trying to calm me down, but that didn't exactly work. My brain had long left its place in my head, replaced with an overwhelming current of painful images threatening to sweep me away. Still, I managed to get to a point where I wouldn't scream at him.

"I just... I just have to take my mind off things, Five." I could use that excuse as many times as I wanted, it wasn't going to change the fact that all of my brothers saw through my bullshit. "I promise I'm not going to do what I usually do," I lied, "just let me go in there."

"I can't Mina, and I don't want to, truthfully. You have to break this habit, it's killing you." His voice caught in his throat toward the end there, but I thought nothing of it. These past few days had been sleepless and emotional, I'm sure that was all. 

"I'm eating again, that's already a step in the right direction. I should be fine if I go in for a few minutes, right?" In the moment, that seemed perfectly reasonable. Five remained silent for too long, his head slowly falling downward as his fists clenched. I fully expected him to get angry and start shouting, but instead, his voice only got quieter.

"Let me rephrase: it _killed_ you."

I stepped back a bit, shock overtaking me for a moment. He had to be lying to me, I hadn't danced in days. How the hell had he reached that conclusion? Did he think somehow I'd danced myself to death when he found me in the rubble?

"You're losing it," I scoffed. "You said we all died because of the _apocalypse_. What does my dancing have to do with that?" Five sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before attempting to calm himself and explain.

"Look, I get this is hard for you to comprehend, but there was a whole day that didn't happen, but it did. After I left the Commission with the information, I teleported to what would have been the current time. But when I got back to the house, no one had seen you, so I jumped to your theater. You'd pushed yourself too far, and I found you dying in your dressing room. So I rewound to the start of the day so I could save you."

For a while, I didn't know how to react. I felt my body crumple a little, attempting to come to grips with the reality presented to me. Well, the _alternate_ reality. I thought I was better, I thought I could do more than I could, and it cost me something valuable. 

Healing isn't just instantaneous. It takes time, and you can't just expect to jump right back in the same way you could before. I understood that now, more than I had when it was just Klaus. All of us had been struggling with something, and it still got to us. I could make any excuse I wanted, but at the end of the day, I was relapsing. 

It was a relapse. I could fight this.

Slowly, I kneeled on the ground, trying to meet my brother's eyes. We fought and yelled at each other just as often as we hugged and cried-- it was a strange cycle. As the anger subsided, the guilt still consumed me. But there were better ways to deal with it, and Five certainly didn't deserve the blunt force of it all. Not after everything he'd seen.

Rather than speaking, I just pulled him into a hug, squeezing him as tight as I could. I thought something had been off about him ever since he got back the second time, now I understood why. Everything had been thrown at him so quickly, and he had no way to deal with it except copious bottles of alcohol and a mannequin. Now, he had all of us, and we had turned our backs on him at one point or another. What the hell kind of siblings did we think we were?

Five offered me a reassuring squeeze before the two of us pushed away and I stood. We still remained in silence as we headed down the stairs, finding Klaus and Diego waiting with nervous expressions. Once they spotted the two of us-- with me standing upright, most importantly-- they made their way over and wrapped me up into hugs, offering that last bit of reassurance I needed.

"Okay, let's get down to business." Five had fallen right back into his strict demeanor. 

"The bastard that nearly killed our sister is still out there, with Vanya. We need to go after her."

"Vanya is not important." I crossed my arms and shot Five a surprised look.

"Hey, that's your sister. A little heartless even for you, Five." I watched his leg drag as he limped across the floor, still clearly in a severe amount of pain from his healing wound.

"I'm not saying I don't care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us. Harold Jenkins is our priority." As much as I hated to admit it, he was right.

"I agree. Let's go."

"You guys count me out." Diego, Five, and I stared at Klaus in disbelief. We'd come this far, we were so close to solving this thing, and he wanted to just give up now? "I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It's just... I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so..."

"You're coming," I stated flatly. If he wasn't letting me give up, I wasn't about to let him get away with laziness.

"No, no, no. I mean, I think we can all agree that my powers... I mean, it's pretty much useless. I'd just be holding you guys back."

"Klaus, get up," I sighed, growing exasperated with his persistence. 

"You can't make me."

Before I could stick my hand out and shock him, Diego removed a knife from his belt and chucked it in Klaus' direction, getting it to land just perfectly between his legs in the couch cushion. Klaus stuck his hands up in surrender, staring at the blade with pure fear as he slowly removed his legs from the seat, trying his best not to touch the knife.

"Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn't hurt. Yeah." I turned to Diego as Five and Klaus started for the door.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, anytime, sis."

We joined our brothers in my car and headed off toward Jenkins' address, hoping we could find Vanya and him there. Klaus and I were supposed to get her out if she were there while Diego and Five dealt with him, but something told me Vanya wouldn't go down without a fight. Even if she didn't have powers, she could still do some major damage. And as much as I hated the thought of it, if she had been spending this much time around Harold Jenkins, there was a good chance she was too far gone for us to get to.

Once again, he had left the door unlocked. This guy was strangely trusting for someone that had a record and five angry siblings hunting him down. He had to know we'd be coming for him at this point, after what he did to Allison. The glass from the door was still shattered, laying in pieces on the hardwood. I suppose he hadn't been home long enough to fix it, but I'm sure that tipped him off we had already looked into him. Hopefully, he hadn't run already. But the house was strangely quiet.

Everything fell into place as we entered the dining room, finding Harold's body littered with knives and forks. Blood ran from his face and wounds, indicating he was more than dead at this point. The dining room itself looked as though a tornado had come through, whipping everything up in a violent wind and throwing it wherever it pleased. Something wasn't right here... this wasn't just a normal death.

"It's not exactly what I was expecting," Klaus muttered as he crouched down.

"The understatement of the year."

"No sign of Vanya," I pointed out, already worrying about where she could have gone. Had the person that did this taken her?

"Let's get out of here before the cops come." Diego, Klaus, and I turned on our heels, but Five just continued to stare at the body, as though mesmerized. I couldn't let him get pinned for this just because of his morbid fascinations, we needed to _go._

"Five--"

"In a minute." 

He made his way over to the body, removing the glass eye from his pocket. Carefully, he removed the bandage covering Harold's eye and set the artificial replacement in. I grimaced a little at the squelching noise it made, trying my best not to cry out in disgust and make this whole situation worse.

"Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it. The eye I've been carrying around for decades, it-- it's found its rightful home." I couldn't help it gagging as Five reached in and removed the eye from the socket and just set it back in the bag he'd been using to carry it as though it were nothing.

"How necessary was that?" I scoffed. "The guy's already dead, you could have just left that thing with him."

Somehow, I'd been a few steps behind my siblings, but I got there eventually. The eye matched Harold Jenkins, which confirmed he was the guy who started the apocalypse. 

"We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse!" My brothers all nodded, clearly resisting the urge to insult me for falling a bit behind. 

"Yay! Let's go." Klaus tried to run back to the car, but I grabbed him by his vest and yanked him back.

"No, no. Wait, wait. It can't be this easy," Five reasoned. It seemed pretty clear-cut to me, but maybe there was some other element he'd left out when he told us about this whole thing. "Look, this is the note I got from the Commission." He pulled the white piece of paper out again, presenting it to the three of us. "The one that says 'Protect Harold Jenkins,' aka Leonard Peabody."

"Yeah?"

"But who killed him? Who did this?"

"I have a crazy idea. Crazy, but why don't we find Vanya... and ask her what happened?" Before Klaus could finish his statement, Five jumped, likely heading back home and leaving the three of us on our own. I grunted and rolled my eyes before immediately rushing out to the car, barely waiting for Diego and Klaus to get in before heading back to the Academy to chew out my little brother and search for Vanya.


	23. Alcohol Helps Forgive

I wrapped my hand around one of the columns in the hallway and used it to swing myself around, meeting up with Five, Klaus, and Diego following our house-wide search for Vanya. I'd let things go for now, more focused on trying to find Vanya and make sure she was safe above all else.

"No sign of Vanya," Five sighed.

"She's not in any of the rooms."

"She's not downstairs, either." Diego reached out and pat Klaus' shoulder.

"Well, I'm out." The three of us whipped around to watch him as he started to make his way down the stairs. 

"Wait. Wait, wait..."

"Where are you going?" I demanded. "Vanya's still out there, so are Hazel and Cha-Cha."

If it came to it, one of those silks of mine was right below us. I could just swing down and take him out so he couldn't leave. It wouldn't be the first time I'd done that to one of our siblings, but last time, it was Luther, and now Dad wasn't here to yell at me because it 'was not part of our training to attack each other'.

I felt no guilt that day.

"I know. I'm gonna get my things and then I'm outta here." I sighed, crossing my arms. Diego couldn't bail now, we needed everyone we could get in case things went wrong. "I got some unfinished business with those fools."

"Should I go after him?" I muttered, leaning down so only Five could hear me.

"Leave him. He's not worth the fight."

Klaus sighed and leaned against the railing protecting us from falling. A moment later, I joined him, resting a hand on the crook of his elbow. He offered me a smile and reached up, squeezing my hand for a second before releasing it. We both understood the intensity in the other's brain at the moment, and how hard we were fighting just to stand here without any sort of help.

"Hey, did Dad say anything about the apocalypse when you spoke to him?" Five asked, limping a little closer to his brother. I tried my best to cover my scoff up. The apocalypse part of all this seemed over and done with. Harold Jenkins, the person who causes the apocalypse, was dead. Was it a completely sure and secure plan? No. But it was all we had for now. "Any clues as to how it happened?"

"No. No clues. Truly terrific shave. But no clues." I shook my head. Even in the most serious moments, the strangest things came out of Klaus' mouth.

"Jeez." 

As Five started to storm away, I reached over the railing and unfurled the silk suspended from it, allowing it to delicately flutter to the ground. Five and Klaus continued to run down as I wrapped my hands around the soft fabric and prepared myself to jump off and slide down.

"You know, come to think of it, he did mention something about my potential, and how I've barely even scratched the surface of my--"

"How did he know about the apocalypse?"

"I don't know, but listen. This whole 'jumping through time' thing of yours, how did..." I made my way down the silk, landing softly on the floor and causing Five to jump and glare at me before shaking his head and brushing past. "How did you know how to do that?"

"I didn't," Five snapped. "You'd realize that if you were actually sober."

"Hey, I _am_ sober. I've been sober for two-- almost two days now."

"Yeah, two days."

"It feels like 45 years..." Klaus muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Who are you kidding, Klaus? I've seen you fidgeting all day."

"Five," I warned. He snapped around quick to glare at me, and I tried my best not to move.

"You're a whole other problem," he growled.

"Excuse you?"

"You say you're done, but then you try to go back and do what's hurting you two seconds later. At least Klaus has the balls to stick with his attempts at getting clean. All you do is relapse and make excuses!" I resisted the urge to reach out and shove him to the ground, instead clenching my arms by my sides.

"You don't know the half of it, Five."

"She's making a lot more progress than you might think," Klaus defended. "She's eating, and in case you haven't noticed, she hasn't done any sort of dancing in, like, four days."

"She tried to yesterday," Five shot back.

"Trust me, Five. If I was really going to, my mind would have been dead set on it, and I would have gotten around you somehow." I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself from yelling. "I fully understand how long healing is going to take, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to try it, but there are going to be relapse moments."

"Well, I guess we're all fighting our addictions, then," Klaus taunted, making sure his gaze was pointed straight at Five.

"I'm not an addict," he argued.

"Yeah, you are. You're addicted to a drug called ‘the apocalypse’."

"You're wrong." I heard Five's voice waver a little. He knew Klaus was right, but his overwhelming pride would never let him admit it.

"First sign. Denial." Five jumped as Klaus turned around, getting up in his face and pointing a finger at his chest. "You and I, we're not the same."

"I've seen that look in the eye of someone who doesn't know who they are without their high anymore. Trust me. You gotta just let it go."

I yelped and jumped back as Five suddenly chucked the eye against the wall, causing it to shatter into hundreds of little pieces. With wide eyes, I slowly moved my gaze to my brother, unsure of how to register any of this. Before I could say anything, he stormed into the drawing room, refusing to be around Klaus or myself any longer.

"Figuratively, but yeah, that works, too." The moment Five was out of earshot, I fell against the wall, letting out a defeated sigh. In the background, I could hear the blender going, but that wasn't my biggest concern at the moment. "Hey, Mina..."

Without saying anything else, he reached down and pulled me into a tight hug, offering me comfort and reassurance in a moment when I needed it most. Klaus always understood, ever since we were kids, that I didn't need words to feel better. That was one leg up he had on Five. I'd always appreciated his compassion; it was something that always seemed to come natural to him. Our other siblings seemed to overlook all his better qualities just because of the drugs.

Slowly, I managed to make my way off of the floor and followed my brother into the drawing room. I found him sitting at the bar, sipping a bright green margarita from a glass and rambling to Delores. With any other family, this would have been grounds for calling an asylum, but around here, this was just another Monday.

I took a seat next to him, looking ahead out the cloudy window for a long while. We sat there in an uncomfortable silence, acknowledging each other's presence but not acting on it. We were still trying to cope with the aftermath of an explosion, one more catastrophic than any of the ones we'd had as children. My eyes kept moving between my brother, the drink in front of him, and the mannequin he leaned so heavily on. Even though he was back with his family, these two things were all he thought he had left at this point.

I had just reached my hand out to touch his shoulder, when a knock on the front door roused him from the stool he sat on. I grunted and leaned my cheek against my fist, unable to listen in on the muffled conversation coming from the foyer. It wasn't until he came limping in with a certain hit man in a blue suit that I snapped out of my daze. Immediately, I shot up out of my seat and lunged for Hazel, wrapping my legs around his neck and throwing him to the ground. He hadn't even gotten a chance to breathe before I pinned his arm behind his back.

"Ballsy of you to come back here," I snarled, getting in closer to his face. "I don't care how much of a dick he's being. You can't have my brother."

"Mina!" I snapped my head up.

"What?"

"I'm not here to kill your brother," Hazel wheezed out. "I swear." Despite my lingering skepticism, I got off the man and moved back to stand next to Five, just in case.

"What's with the gun then?" I demanded. He looked down at the weapon, then gently put it in his blazer, careful not to set it off.

"Oh. Shit. Sorry. Old habits." Five resumed drinking his margarita, much to my concern. This boy relied a little too much on alcohol for his age. He could use whatever 'mental age' bullshit excuse he wanted, his body was still 13. "Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know..."

"Well, you attacked our house, tried to kill my family, and kidnapped my brother," Five listed off casually.

"Well, there's not much I can do about the past. I'm not the only killer in this room. You got your own bloody history, pal. Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, that shit's legendary. Can't believe I'm actually sittin' here, talking to you--" My eyebrows flew up as I moved my gaze to Five.

"Oh, so you're a _famous_ killer." He continued to glare at me.

"You knew this already, quit acting so surprised."

"Well, it certainly doesn't put me at ease the more I hear it." Flustered, Five focused his attention back on the man in front of us.

"Hazel, why are you here?" Hazel stopped floundering, looking up at the two of us with slight shock on his face.

"Well, I'm, you know--"

Before he could finish, Diego suddenly came sprinting in and kicked Hazel's back, catching him off guard and causing him to tumble to the ground. Five and I spared a glance at each other, unsure of what to do. On one hand, it seemed like Hazel was here to make his peace, and we should give him that chance... but, on the other hand, this fight could be really entertaining.

"Diego, stop!" For once, Five wasn't as okay with the chaos as I was. Diego flipped over Hazel and delivered a few kicks to his face. "You know, before you kill him, you might wanna hear what he has to say." Instead, Hazel managed to strike Diego's chest and make him fall onto the rug.

"You know, I feel like we should stop them, but... I also just kind of want to see what happens." Five looked surprised as I laughed a little. He'd never seen this side of me before.

"I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Patch," Diego growled as he removed one of his knives from his belt. Hazel managed to catch Diego's arm the first time, but our brother just threw the knife and curved it perfectly into his other hand, then quickly stabbed Hazel's thigh, causing Five and I to both inhale sharply.

"That's gotta hurt..."

Hazel managed to pull the knife from his leg, but the moment of hesitation gave Diego the chance to kick and punch him again before flipping back and leaving his arms vulnerable. Hazel caught him and twisted his arms down, using the open second to headbutt Diego and pick him up. Diego continued to thrash for a moment, before biting down on Hazel's ear, causing him to cry out in pain. Five quickly shot up from his seat and jumped closer to the pair, grabbing an empty vase from a nearby table and smashing it over his brother's head. Diego's grip immediately released as he fell unconscious, landing on the wood floor with a loud 'thud'.

"I draw the line at biting." With that taken care of, Five limped back toward the bar, shaking off the few stray shards of glass that managed to get on him. "Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes 'round."

"I left my partner, quit the Commission, came to volunteer." My mouth fell slightly agape as I stared at the large man. 

"For what?"

"To help stop the apocalypse."

"Hm." Five took another sip of his electric green drink, surprisingly unphased by Hazel's sudden change of heart. I guess he knew he always had it in him.

"What on Earth could be so funny to you right now?" he sighed.

"Before I answer that, why do you wanna help us?" Hazel paused for a moment, nodding his head a bit.

"Let's just say I have a vested interest in a doughnut shop." I leaned down closer to my brother.

"Griddy's?" I whispered. We both shrugged, but took the answer. That place was associated with so many good memories, sunbeams that cut through the overwhelming dark clouds.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but you're a day late and a dollar short. The fact that you're here right now means, without a shadow of a doubt, that the apocalypse is over." I was a little shocked at just how certain Five was. Sure, Harold Jenkins was dead and Hazel was making no efforts to keep the timeline in order, but there was always that shadow of a doubt that could seep in.

"Really? How do you know?"

"The mark is dead. Found him this morning. You were the last unknown left in the equation." Hazel chuckled, relief flooding over his face.

"Shit. Really?"

"Mm-hmm. And if you're out, then Hellrider ain't riding."

"Oh." He inhaled deeply, smiling and throwing his arms up a bit. "All right. Oh!" I turned and faced the bar again as he made his way over and took a seat next to Five. My face crinkled in disgust as he reached over and drank straight out of the blender, without even a second thought. "So now what?"

"You know, to be honest, I don't know," Five admitted. "I've been chasing this thing for so long, I... I never really thought about the day after. I don't know. What about you?"

"I'm done with all this madness. Time to start over. You should do the same."

"That's easier said than done."

"It doesn't have to be hard. I mean, think about it like this. If you never time traveled, you never got caught up with The Handler, what would have happened?" Five's eyes bounced from Diego to myself, and strangely enough, when he finally met my eyes, he broke out into a smile.

"Guess I would have grown up to be an emotionally stunted man-child like everybody else around here." My jaw dropped a little as I pretended to be offended by his statement. In truth, we all knew we were screwed up.

"Hey!" I slapped his arm. "At least now you can grow up."

"I'd assume this one of the emotionally stunted?" Hazel smiled at me as he extended a hand out for me to shake.

"Ah, yes. Hazel, this is my twin sister, Mina." His eyes widened a little bit.

"Yeah, it still seems weird to me, too," I admitted as he shook his head.

"No, no, not that-- although, that is weird. _You're_ Mina. It's nice to finally put a face to the name." I glanced down at Five again.

"So does the _entire_ Commission know about me, or...?"

"Talking about family passed the time," Five sighed. 

"It's nice to finally meet you," Hazel gushed. "From the way Five talked about you... well, I wish I had a sister like you growing up." My sentiment turned to a bit of snark.

"Oh, he actually complimented me?"

"Come on, Mina." Five almost sounded... sad. I backed off slightly, suddenly feeling sorry for my sarcasm.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, Hazel, Five can be a bit arrogant and mean at times. He's always been my harshest critic." Five's head dropped a little. " _But..._ there isn't anyone else in this house, or in the world, I'd rather say is my brother." Thankfully, that lifted his spirits. He looked back at me again and smiled, the sort without all that shit-eating confidence. "Siblings just fight sometimes. It happens." I reached over and slung an arm around Five's shoulders, pulling him closer against me as he wrapped his arms around my torso. Poor thing had been on his own for so long, and even then, he'd just thought about us. I would have thought he wanted nothing more than to get away from all of us, but these past few days put it all into perspective.

"You're lucky to have your family. Good luck to you guys." Hazel got up and started to walk out, when Five turned around and called out to him.

"Hazel." The man stopped and looked to us again. "One more thing before you go."

"Shoot." 

"Which one of you was the trigger man for Detective Patch?" I exhaled through pursed lips, glancing between Diego and Hazel warily.

"Trigger woman." Well, at least it wasn't him.

"Huh. That's too bad. That gun could have cleared my brother's name." Hazel brushed his jacket aside and reached into his pockets, removing one black gun and one of shimmering steel.

"Well, today's your lucky day, amigo. Take 'em both." I flinched as Hazel set the weapons down right beside me. "I'm done with this life."

We both watched him as he went, waiting for him to completely leave the building before Five spoke again.

"I know we're talking in circles at this point."

"Yep. We keep coming back to the same apologies," I sighed, leaning against my hand, "and the same clarifications. So what do we do now?" Five chuckled to himself as he took another sip. "For starters, let's cut down the drinking, okay? No matter what age you are, drinking the amount that you do is terrible for your health." His face soured, but he didn't complain.

"Can we try to do normal sibling things?" he muttered. There was a childishness behind his words, as though he retreated into his formerly 13-year-old self again.

"What do you qualify as 'normal'?" He shrugged as I reached over and removed the glass from his possession, then reached around and grabbed the one he'd placed in front of Delores. 

"Whatever doesn't involve the end of humanity, I guess." I smiled as an idea came to mind.

"Tell you what: Vanya has a concert is tonight. Assuming we find her and she's okay, why don't we get as many of us together as possible and go? I'm sure she'd love to see us supporting her." 

Five didn't get the chance to respond, but based on the look on his face, I knew he was in. Before he could speak, Diego groaned from his place on the floor, slowly coming to. He managed to sit up, clutching the spot on his head where Five had smashed the vase.

"Good, you're up. Ready for a drink now?" I sighed, shaking my head.

"What did I say about the drinking?"

"This is for him, not me." As we went back and forth, Diego's eyes widened, suddenly remembered what he had been doing before he ended up on the ground.

"Where is he?" he asked as he looked around, as though Hazel would just be hiding around some corner.

"I let him go." I straightened a little as Diego got closer, knowing full well what he'd do if Five set him off.

"Now that the apocalypse is over, it's time for the fighting to stop." Diego almost looked as though he were about to cry as he whipped around and snatched his discarded knife off the floor. "Hey, he didn't kill Patch. His partner Cha-Cha did."

"So what?" I glared up at him, shaking my head a little to warn him to back off. "They were both there that night."

"This half of the partnership gave me both their guns. Which will clear you because the ballistics will match Patch's crime scene. Hazel came here looking for a way out. He wanted a fresh start. And he happened to have in his possession the one thing that could do our family a little good. So it's time to move on."

"Not a chance." I scoffed.

"Suit yourself." Five reached around behind him and grabbed Delores off the counter, securing her tightly in his grip. "I am curious. Your girlfriend, Patch. What did you like about her?" Five stopped moving toward the exit, staring at his brother and waiting for some sort of substantial answer.

"A lot of things. Cute butt. Nice legs."

"Anything a little more profound than that?" He hesitated, looking at Five and I with raised brows. 

"She believed in people. No matter how much shit and filth she saw on the streets. She always saw the good inside." I nodded a little, impressed. I never expected something so poetic to come out of Diego's mouth, much less about someone he just said had a 'cute butt' and 'nice legs'.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be proud to know that you're killing Hazel and Cha-Cha as a way to honor her memory."

I smirked at Diego, watching his face change as my brother's words sank in, then turned on my heel and followed him out. Five started to stumble a little, Delores slipping from his grip slightly, so I rushed over and picked the mannequin up.

"Can you drive me somewhere?" he asked, his voice slurring a little.

"Now the alcohol hits you," I sighed. "You go and take a nap, let yourself come back to, and then we'll go wherever you want and get some dinner before Vanya's show. Sound good?"

"Sure."

I helped my brother up the stairs and onto his bed, carefully tucking Delores back under his arm as he drifted off to sleep. I almost considered heading down the stairs and grabbing a book or something, but the pull of sleep became too strong for me to resist. I laid down on top of the blankets, careful not to hit Delores, and closed my eyes, drifting off.


	24. Dissolving Hope

The walls shook violently, jarring me from my sleep. I bolted upright, panting and darting my head around in an attempt to figure out where that sudden rumble came from. We almost never got earthquakes around here, and when we did, they weren't severe enough to shake the entire Academy. Five, somehow, was still fast asleep, hugging Delores close to his chest as he slumbered right through the momentary panic. The tremors stopped just as quickly as they started, but that didn't mean there wasn't cause for concern. I pushed myself up and threw open the door, joining an equally confused Klaus and Diego out in the hall.

"You guys felt that, right?" Klaus asked, looking around at the ceiling. The corners where the walls met now had hairline cracks running along them, slightly threatening their stability.

"Yeah... what the hell was that?" Diego shook his head, still staring at the little fractures.

"More importantly, what caused it?" I tapped them on their arms, heading toward the stairs.

"Let's get a look around, make sure nothing else in the house got damaged."

I unfurled one of my silks and slid down, beating my brothers to the bottom of the stairs. Nothing in the foyer looked like it had been damaged, but dust had piled up on the floor, shaken down from above. The same went for the drawing room and the rest of the hallway: nothing had been knocked down or damaged, but the union of the wall and the ceiling had been riddled with cracks. I turned to Diego and Klaus as they made it down to the bottom of the stairs, both shooting me unamused looks.

"What? We need to figure out what's going on. I just had an advantage." Their faces remained unchanged. "I know this doesn't help, but like Dad said: I adapted."

"Weren't you the one he was saying that to? When you accused Five of cheating during our training session?"

"Not important," I snapped. "Nothing's been damaged here except the ceiling, just like the top floor. I'm pretty sure that's the extent of the damage in the house, but we should check downstairs, just to be sure."

The three of us rushed over to the staircase that led to the bottom floor, and strangely enough, there wasn't any damage whatsoever. It seemed whatever happened only affected the floors above-ground. Considering how intense the quakes were, that seemed near-impossible.

I turned the corner, when my eyes rested on something strange: the doorway to what appeared to be an elevator. I'd never seen this before, never even knew we had one in the house. I supposed Dad could have had it built after we all left and he started to get older, but that would mean he actually left that office. Besides, the button next to it only went down. I didn't even know there was anything else below the house. 

"Hey, guys? Did you know this was here?" Diego and Klaus made their way over, staring at the machine.

"No..." Diego muttered.

"Why would Dad need an elevator that only goes _down_? There isn't anything below this house but dirt." I glanced back at Klaus.

"Obviously that's not the case. Dad put something down there and didn't tell us." 

"What do you think it could be?" I took a deep breath and reached for the old button encased in cracked plastic.

"One way to find out."

The dated chime rang just moments later, opening the doors to whatever unknown abyss awaited us. None of us spoke a word, attempting to keep silent trembles and fears in check for the sake of the others. The natural lights slowly faded away, and instead shadows were now cast by an ethereal, blue light. Patterns of dark and light flashed over our faces the further down we descended, until finally, the elevator landed with a definite 'thunk'. All three of us stumbled a little at the harsh landing, resting our hands on each other’s shoulders for balance. None of us wanted to be the first to move, but we couldn't just stay in here forever. Daring to solve the mystery, I took the first steps into the dark, dank tunnel, wary of every place my feet landed. Water sloshed below me, dampening my flats and further weighing them down.

The sickening, yellow glow faded to blue again as the tunnel opened up, revealing some room with a large, darkened chamber stuck right in the middle. A little window on the door revealed Vanya, collapsed in a heap on the hard ground. Luther stood menacingly in the corner, keeping a careful eye on the prison.

"Luther? What the hell is happening here?" He looked to the three of us with wide eyes.

"How'd you guys find this place?" Diego pointed to the tunnel behind us.

"You left the door to the elevator open."

"You still haven't explained why Vanya is locked up in whatever this thing is." Luther remained silent for a while, arms crossed as he glared down at us. "Well? Out with it." Realizing I wasn't going to relent, he bounced his eyes between the three of us again before sighing. 

"Vanya... is like us," was the only explanation he offered us.

I blinked at him a few times, stuck in disbelief. The possibility of that being true certainly couldn't be discounted, but our whole lives, we had always been told Vanya was ordinary-- that she had no powers. If she _was_ like us, wouldn't she have trained with us as well? We should remember that if she did, but no matter how far back I reached into my memory, there was nothing but the times she would play with Five and I. Her 'training' had always been playing her violin, but that was all. Besides, if she had powers, why would Luther lock her up? Did he seriously hate her that much?

I jumped at the abrupt pounding of Vanya slamming her hands against the glass. Though we couldn't hear her, the frequency of her hits and the distressed expression on her face told us she couldn't scream any louder if she tried. My confusion turned back to rage as I turned back around to glare at Luther.

"You locked up our sister because you _think_ she has powers?" I demanded, seething. 

"No, I know she does," he answered calmly. "Pogo told me. He's always known, and so did Dad." I reached out and placed a hand against the glass, staring in at my sister.

"Why would they hide this from us? I mean, are we the only ones that didn't know this place existed?"

"He hid so much from us," Klaus sighed. 

"He hid it because he was afraid... of her."

"Oh, that's ridiculous," I scoffed. On the chance that she did, in fact, have powers, there was no reason for him to be afraid of Vanya. Based on evidence from the past, I'd say she had been Dad's favorite.

"Is it? Dad's lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?"

"If you're right, then maybe she's the one that killed Peabody." My eyes widened as I looked to Diego. He couldn't believe this... no...

"And cut Allison's throat."

"Whoa, no," Klaus interjected. "Let's... I ju-- Sorry, just, let's go back, all right? This is Vanya we're talking about. Our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids."

"Yeah, I know. I know it's difficult to accept--"

"It's not difficult to accept, it's _impossible_ to accept!" I shouted, throwing my arms down.

"No, they're right." Thank God Diego changed his tune. "Look, we can't keep her locked up without proof."

"Wh--What more proof do you need?" I stuck my head out a little, unable to process the words that came out of Luther's mouth. He thought he was completely in the right here, as always. Just because he had always been Number One didn't mean his word was the leading authority. I'd never subscribed to that mentality.

"Why don't we just open the door and ask her?" Klaus tried to reach for the wheel that would open the door, but Luther slapped his hand away.

"No, she's not goin' anywhere." I rolled my eyes at Luther, my irritation with his insistence only growing.

"No. Even if you're right, she needs our help, and we can't do that if she's locked in a cage."

"Yeah, and for all we know, she might be struggling with his new power. I mean, it must be scary. Terrifying, really, to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do." Strange. Klaus almost sounded like he understood what she was going through.

"Look, if what Pogo told me is even half true, then she is not just a danger to us."

I refused to believe it as I watched my sister bang her hands against the class and sob, her begging completely lost to us. I did start to trust, more and more, that she _did_ have powers, but there was no way Vanya could ever be dangerous. At least, not any more dangerous than any of us had been when we were first learning to control our powers. We just had to help her learn her limits and what made her powers work, that way she couldn't be this present threat Luther seemed to think she was.

Another set of footsteps echoed in the tunnel, causing the four of us to turn around. Allison stood in the opening, leaning against the scratchy wall, holding a yellow pad of paper and a marker in her hand. A clean, white bandage had been placed over the wound, preventing it from suddenly ripping open.

"Allison, what are you doing down here? You should be in bed." She began to quickly write something on one of the sheets of paper, presenting her neat handwriting to all of us. My eyes widened a bit as I realized she couldn't talk anymore... the source of her powers, ripped away in an instant.

'Let her go,' Allison demanded. Luther shook his head, as though unable to comprehend that Allison wasn't on his side about all of this.

"I can't do that. She hurt you." Allison flipped to another page and wrote down another one of her thoughts.

'My fault.' I tried to process that as I stood between Klaus and Diego. I never thought I'd see Allison take responsibility for something.

"I'm sorry, but she's staying put." My hatred for Luther started to rise again, as I glared up at him defiantly for a moment. Our whole lives, he had the final word; he was the one giving us orders. But we weren't kids anymore, and we weren't under Dad's rule. What gave him the right to tell us how we were supposed to treat Vanya and what we had to do with her?

I tried to rush to the door and open it, but just as my fingers brushed the wheel, Luther grabbed onto me and yanked me backwards. The force with which he set me back on the ground nearly caused me to fall, Klaus and Diego only preventing me from tumbling by catching me at the last second. Allison tried to push past Luther as well, but he stuck his arm out, preventing her from even getting close to the door.

"Just until we know what we're dealing with." Did he really think anything he said would come off as reasonable to us? 

Frustrated, she began to slam her hands against Luther's chest, trying to get him to budge and give in to her. 

"She stays put." Allison pushed back a few more times, before her injury got the better of her, and she collapsed against him. "Come on. Come on, you need to rest."

Before I could do anything else, I felt Klaus grab onto my arm and start to pull me away, muttering something I couldn't make out over the ringing in my head. I yanked away from his grip and stared daggers at Luther, taking another moment before I left the room.

"You always were such a dick," I snarled. 

He gawked at me as I turned on my heel and followed Diego and Klaus back to the elevator, hesitating before ascending back to the main floor of the house. I could feel a heavy weight settling in my chest, causing a dull pain every time I thought of Vanya trapped down there. I hated to think we all had given up on her just because of one prick, but that prick could throw us across the room without a second thought. And something told me that he would if he got the chance. 

The moment I entered my room, all of my guilt came flooding back, forcing my legs out from under me and causing my body to crumple onto the floor. It wasn't just the deep wound on Allison's throat I could have prevented, or the fact I'd left Vanya to scream and beg to be let out in some spiked chamber, it was... everything. I'd always gotten along better with Vanya, that was no secret, but even when we were children, Dad had always pitted the three of us against each other. We were made to see the other two girls in our lives as competition, and nothing more. Funny how that ended up translating into the three of us becoming the most quote-unquote famous in the family.

But that wasn't how we should have looked at each other. We should have been a wall, standing firm against our brothers, but instead, that wall got split up and put between each of us. I thought, coming back here, maybe there was a chance we could dissolve those barricades and just try to start over. 

We lost our chance, and now, it probably was too late to ever fix the way things had been.

Quiet cries turned to loud sobs the longer I waded around in my own head space, stirring around the misery that already bubbled and boiled over. I could feel my mind slipping, falling down that dangerous slope I'd fought so hard to ignore the past few days. My hands tingled, and I clenched and unclenched my fists, fighting down the urge to run back to that cursed studio and push my body to the brink of death.

It was just a relapse... I could fight this. I was _better_ than this.

I shot up as the door opened, without even a knock. My heart pounded against my chest, threatening to burst free from my rib cage before I realized it was just Five. He just stood there for a moment, donning a concerned and slightly saddened expression as his eyes met mine. He stood completely on his own, without a stutter or sway, indicating the alcohol had completely left his system. I had promised him we'd go once he was sober, and here we were...

"You ready?" I croaked out, wiping my eyes and hiccuping a little.

Rather than responding, my brother made his way over and took a seat next to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me into a hug. I got caught off-guard for a moment, attempting to process Five actually offering support to someone in a time of emotional distress. Sure, we had been there for each other as kids, but he still had that snippy attitude about it all, not wanting to waste too much time with anything. 

After the initial shock faded, everything else came rushing back, leaving me with that same heavy and hopeless feeling as before. Without a second thought, I crumpled up again, allowing a few more tears to slip out as I attempted to pull myself together. 

"You want to talk about it?" Five asked quietly, as though afraid he would strike a nerve and set me off again. I sighed as we pulled away from our hug, unsure if I could relay this information to him without causing both of us to fly into hysterics. But, he needed to know...

"Luther..." I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my shaking voice. "Luther thinks that Vanya... might have powers... so he locked her up in this chamber in a room below the house-- I didn't even know that existed." I watched as Five's eyes turned to fire, and the moment I finished speaking, he shot up.

"He _what_?" I could tell Five was about to jump, but before he could, I reached out and grabbed his arm. "Mina, let go."

"Five, Luther wouldn't let you pass. Even if you went down there, you wouldn't be able to open the door before he threw you. And I'm sorry, but I'm not letting him hurt you."

I slowly released my grip, taking a moment to think about what I had just said. I sounded exactly like Luther...

"Look, we'll talk to Klaus and Diego later and try to figure out how to get her out of there without Luther stopping us, but for now... I don't know, I just need to get my mind off things." Carefully, I managed to stand and force a little smile onto my face. "So let's run that errand of yours and get some dinner."

Reluctantly, Five turned on his heel and started to head out.

"I'll get Delores," I heard him mutter.


	25. Twin Bonding

"Hey, Five?" He hummed in acknowledgement as he reached into the back, removing the canvas bag he used to carry Delores with. "What exactly are we doing back at Gimbel Brothers?"

"I have something important to do." I snickered a little as he opened the car door.

"What, you here to get the rest of Delores' friends?" His glare immediately silenced me. "Sorry, that's... actually not funny.

I followed Five into the department store, a strange feeling settling in my stomach. I had never seen this place in the daytime, full of life and bargain-hunting customers. Mothers pushed their slumbering babies in strollers as they looked through pairs of jeans, some teenagers darted in and out through the clothing racks, and children lingered behind their mothers, staring up at all of the glittering gowns and sharp suits. Workers moved around and asked if any customers needed their assistance. The world inside had moved on from the attacks that damaged the store, acting as though nothing had even happened in the first place. There were still bullet holes in walls and signs, but no one paid them any mind.

I hung back a little, leaning against one of the racks, as Five approached the stand where he had first found Delores. I suddenly understood, very clearly, what he was about to do as he removed the bag from his back and unzipped it, revealing the top half of his beloved mannequin. He needed his space for this sort of thing, but that wasn't to say I wouldn't watch as he did this.

Carefully, he set the battered and burnt Delores back where she had been found, much shorter now since her legs had gone missing.

"Hey," Five muttered before looking down at his feet, unable to find the right words. Strangely, I found my breath hitching in my throat, causing one hand to fly to my chest. "I bet it feels good to be back... amongst your friends." My eyes briefly flashed to the other mannequins. "And it's okay, you can... say it. We always were an unlikely pair. This isn't easy for me, Delores, and I..." My heart broke as Five's voice warbled slightly. "I want you to know I cherish every single moment I ever shared with you, all 23 and a half million of them. A lifetime. Now look at us. We're lucky enough, we get a second one." He paused for a moment, as though hearing her speak in his mind. "Yeah," he laughed. "You are right. I do have a lot of growing up to do. I'll never forget you, Delores."

I found myself wiping away a few tears as Five turned and picked up the now empty bag. Sure, she was nothing but painted plastic, but Five had relied on her for so long. She had been his crutch, the thing that kept him company after the rest of us had passed. To our siblings, and myself, she was just this inanimate object Five carried around, further supporting the fact he may have lost his mind. But she meant something to him. Even if he understood she couldn't possibly be alive and offer him affection, he chose to stick with her. Giving her up looked as though it took everything in him, and after taking a step back, I understood why.

"Come here," I muttered as he turned around to look up at me, eyes shimmering with the threat of tears.

Normally, I'd get some sort of scoff or snarky comment from him, pretending he was too grown up to run to his sister for support. But after such a vulnerable nerve had been struck, the wall of arrogance fell away, and he attached himself to my side like Velcro. Walking with an extra set of legs proved to be a bit of a challenge at first, but we quickly fell into a rhythm of ease. Just before we left the store, an idea popped into my head, and I turned to a worker in a bright yellow vest sorting some of the women's sweaters.

"Excuse me, miss?" She turned to me with a bright customer-service smile.

"Yes?"

"Could you give that mannequin something new to wear?" I glanced down at my brother, a smile slowly growing on his face as we met eyes.

"She likes sequins."

Just as the worker's pleasant expression turned to confusion, I pat her on the shoulder and led my brother out the doors and back to my car. His shoulders immediately slumped, causing him to slide down in the leather seat. He looked as though the life had been sucked out of him, leaving only the husk of a body. Both of us had been left defeated, unable to help ourselves or our family. We both needed to quit wallowing, refresh and reset before tackling the bigger issue at hand.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked abruptly, breaking the mournful silence.

"What?" He sniffled, sitting up a little straighter and moving to buckle his seat belt.

"We both need food," I asserted. "It's getting close to dinner time, and to be completely honest, I don't want to go back to the house yet. So, where do you want to go?" He smiled a little, chuckling to himself.

"I suppose Griddy's isn't a good baseline for a meal?" I laughed as I shook my head.

"Under any other circumstance, I'd go for it. But yeah, I think we need to have something a little more substantial than that."

He fell silent again, eyes moving out the window to watch the stagnant world, only occasionally breaking from its stillness when the breeze moved some leaves along. The weight still bore down our shoulders, causing definite slouches in both our postures. The time for the end of the world had passed, so why were we still left feeling like we'd lost? No matter what, our lives had always been filled with that bitter sting, lingering in the limbs and veins long after incidents had passed.

"There's still that one diner downtown, right?" Five's voice croaked a little, but his words rang clear.

"Yeah. I went there a little while ago with Klaus." My eyes moved down to the steering wheel, despite the fact I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of at this point. "I can't really tell you how the food is, but he seemed to enjoy it, so... there's that." Five's smile returned as he looked to me again, offering reassurance he had been reluctant to give before.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Never, in my life, did I think I'd hear my brother utter a genuine apology. Yet, these past few days, I'd been getting quite a lot of them. His experiences had changed him, and for the better. "About the relapsing and undermining you."

"You got a shock to the system... no pun intended." We both laughed a little, breaking the tense air. "You've seen a lot more than you should have, and... and I never took that into consideration when I did and said everything I have this past week. But now, that's all behind us. I know you can't forget—believe me—but at least you can try and move on, right?"

"Yeah..." I shook my head as I started the car.

"You said you had a lot of growing up to do, kid. That's true... but both of us do. I mean, look at me. I'm almost thirty and I'm more emotional than... well, you." Carefully, I reached around and started the car. "Like I said, we'll get there. And I'm here for you, whatever you need and whenever you need it."

"Ah, you're just saying that because you're my sister," he scoffed.

"Oh, please. I think we've learned over the last eight days alone that this whole 'siblings' concept is complete and utter bullshit. I mean, I know _we're_ related, but we call everyone else brothers and sisters, and they do the same to each other, but things _still_ wouldn't support that. Just look at Allison and Luther."

"I'll never understand that," Five muttered.

"Because we were all raised as 'siblings', or because she's too good for Mr. Dad-Sent-Me-to-the-Moon?" Five burst out laughing again, bringing a smile to my face. I hadn't seen him this happy since we were little. It was reassuring to know some of that joy and childishness still laid dormant in him. 

With the sadness dispelled for the time being, I drove the two of us to the little diner downtown and waited for the hostess to lead us to a table. The whole time, Five hung to my side, as though he thought if he let go, I would disappear forever. Back when we were kids, I would have pushed him away or started teasing him, but now, I just felt the overwhelming sense to protect him. In the few days Five had been back, he changed from my twin that we all had some issues with to the little brother we needed to keep safe under all circumstances. The others still saw him as a little shit sometimes, even I had my moment, but now that the threat of the end of the world had passed... we almost had become what a normal family should be.

Aside from the sister we had trapped in the basement.

I skidded a little down the leathery seat of the booth as Five and I slid in, quickly snatching up the menus the hostess had set down for us. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I tried to adjust to the idea of actually looking at a menu and weighing my options, instead of just pretending to take a glance before proclaiming I wasn't hungry. There were so many foods I hadn't allowed myself to enjoy in years, resorting to the bare minimum so I could fit an unrealistic image that, in my mind, equated to success and perfection-- an image that was synonymous with control.

No more with that bullshit. If they wanted to fire me or demote me for the way I looked, they could do it. It wasn't worth the risk to my own health.

"You never really told me about what happened in those 17 years I was in the future," Five pointed out as he took a sip from his coffee mug. Was it responsible of me to let him have caffeine this late in the day? No. But did I really give a shit? Definitely not. I could let some things slide for one day.

"I think we both know it's not exactly an uplifting story." For some reason, I laughed a little, as though that automatically made the context of the situation less depressing.

"I can handle it." I stared at my brother for a moment, just blinking, before shrugging my shoulders. "When did you leave?"

"Not long after Diego," I answered. "I waited until I had enough money to get my own place and sustain myself to go. I don't remember if I said bye to Dad or not, to be completely honest... but I always tried with him. I'd send him tickets to my shows, even though somewhere deep down, I knew he wouldn't even look at them. He never had time for any of us, I know that, but I always held out just a little bit of hope."

"Not the wisest decision, Mina." Five paused as he took another sip of his coffee. "Since when did you start believing in people, anyways?"

"Just because we're twins, doesn't mean we have the same outlook on everything," I laughed. "I've always had faith in people, it just got more selective the older we got." We both got quiet for a moment, turning to our food and allowing that to fill the silence, rather than forced attempts at conversation.

"Everyone gets more cynical with age." 

"You don't count," I shot back playfully. "You were mad at the world the moment you were born." He went quiet again, his face falling slightly. "You've always cared about me, though, and the rest of our siblings. And they've noticed that, trust me."

"Well, at the end of the day, you _are_ my sister. I'm stuck with you, and vice versa." I smiled as he threw my words from earlier back at me.

"I couldn't be happier about that." 

Once dinner had been finished and paid for, Five hugged me again, and we headed out to my car and back toward home. I held out the hope that if we played our cards right, we'd be able to get Vanya out of that chamber in the basement in time for her concert. I still wanted to see her play, and I knew Five did as well.

Unfortunately, we wouldn't get that chance.

I had just pulled up in front of the house and parked, when a loud explosion ricocheted in my ears, forcing the ground below us to violently shake. Other people walking by stopped and darted their eyes around, confused and panicked. For a moment, I tried to sort through everything, attempting to figure out what happened.

And then my mind snapped back to what happened earlier, right before we’d found Luther guarding Vanya.

My eyes widened as the familiar building trembled, though the rest of the ground remained stable, and bits of rubble started to fall away from the outside. Fingers of cracks started to crawl across windows, threatening to shatter onto the ground below at any moment.

"Shit," I muttered. "We're too late!"

My siblings weren't out here... which meant they were still in the Academy.

I had to go after them.

I turned to Five and stared him down, pointing a finger back toward the car.

"You stay here. I'm not about to lose you, okay? I'm going back in there to get them." Immediately, his face crumpled, looking as though he were having war flashbacks.

"But, Mina, last time--"

"This isn't last time, is it?" I snapped. "I'm going in there and getting our brothers and sisters, you're staying here. I _promise_ you that, at the very least, they'll make it out alive." He reached out, wrapping his arms around my waist and refusing to budge. "Five, you have to let go of me."

"No! You already died twice, I'm not letting it happen a third time!"

"Five!" I pushed him away, crouching down to meet his eyes. "Look, I know this isn't the time for this, but I'm going to say it anyways. You said it yourself, I've already died twice. Maybe... maybe it's just supposed to happen."

"You can't--"

"I know we've fought a lot over the years, and I was mad at you for so long-- too long-- but you've been the best brother I could ask for." I squeezed him tighter than I had any other time. "I love you, kid. Take care of the others if I don't make it out."

Instead of protesting, he pulled me in for another hug.

"I love you, too, Mina."

With one last look at the glimmering '4', I turned on my heel and threw open the gates, running straight into the crumbling fray.


	26. Escape Home

I swung around the corner, tripping on a couple of stairs as I ran up in an attempt to find my siblings. Given how things had been left, they were likely still in their rooms, attempting to figure out what exactly just happened. None of us had seen Vanya's powers in action before, but something told me that at least Luther had put two and two together and figured out she was causing this. I still refused to believe she was capable of any sort of harm or destruction, but I couldn't discount the pattern that had started emerging.

I had just made it to the staircase that led to my siblings' bedrooms, when I crashed chest-first into two figures, who grunted in pain before falling right to the ground. My eyes widened as I reached my hands down, helping Klaus and Diego back up onto their feet. Diego adjusted his sling slightly as he glared at me.

"Shit. Sorry, guys," I muttered, sheepish. 

"No time, no time!" Klaus shouted, already spinning me around and starting to push me away. "We have to find Mom and _get out of here_!"

"Right, right." The three of us ran to Mom's charging spot, only to find the cushioned seat bare. The beautiful paintings that once sat proud on the wall now swung violently back and forth, tumbling from their places of honor as the golden frames containing them cracked and shattered. I stuck my arms out, attempting to keep myself from falling as another explosion rocked the ground beneath me. 

"Mom!" Diego shouted, attempting to call her to us. "Where is she?" 

The three of us quickly turned on our heels as a piece of the ceiling fell just inches from me, smashing onto the marble flooring.

"Mom!" I shouted as we crossed the bridge that normally would lead to where all the Umbrella Academy memorabilia had once been housed. The cases had been smashed and any little items buried beneath rubble, but at this point, that wasn't the most pressing issue.

"Mom!"

Just as we headed down the next hallway, a chunk of the ceiling crashed down onto the back of my neck, knocking me off my feet. Klaus and Diego's bodies thudded beside me, with the latter rendered completely unconscious. I tried to pick myself up, but the moment I lifted my fingers, every nerve in me seemed to go dead, forcing me to flop back down like a limp, helpless piece of garbage. I tried to fight again, not wanting to give up on my family that easily, but no matter my willpower, my body refused to move

After one last, fruitless attempt, I closed my eyes, allowing my head to loll to the side. I hadn't completely believed what I had said to Five about being destined to die, but if it's what time wished to happen, then it would. I had hoped so desperately that we changed the timeline, that none of us would be harmed and we could actually fight this catastrophe, but there was nothing else left to do. The necklace I always wore with pride dug into my sternum as I closed my eyes, resigning myself completely.

That's when, suddenly, my body shot forward, feeling as though someone were pulling on my hand. Adrenaline shot through me, forcing me to suddenly jump up just as what appeared to be nearly the entire ceiling came crashing down. Klaus must have gotten up and pulled us out of the way just in time.

I turned to thank my brother, but found him instead staring at the spot next to me with wide eyes, his jaw fallen slack. It took me a second to figure out just what he was staring at, but when it hit me, I turned to the air beside me and gasped a little.

"Holy shit," Klaus muttered as Diego came to. I reached down and helped him to his feet, setting an arm under his shoulders to support him.

"Come on," I shouted, turning my head back to the still-dumbfounded Klaus. "Come on, come on. Klaus!"

I rushed him up the other set of stairs, leading to Five and my rooms and the attic, where the fire escape had been installed. Klaus, Diego, and I fought a little to push ourselves out, but we managed to escape just in time, our feet touching the ground right before the bricks and mortar began to fall away.

"You okay?" Diego nodded, and I snapped my attention to Klaus. "You okay?" Diego maneuvered around me and placed his hands on his brother's face.

"Hey, you just saved my life, man." I furrowed my brow a bit as Diego wrapped him into a hug. This was pretty out of character for him, even at what could possibly be the end of the world.

"Okay. Great." I watched as Klaus shrugged a little, still looking at the spot next to me. I felt something warm spread in my chest for a moment, knowing who was right beside me.

"Shit. Mom." I moved my eyes up to where Diego was looking. My heart dropped as I spotted Mom, standing in the window and smiling down at us. "Mom!" The three of us began to frantically wave our arms, attempting to get her to come down and save herself.

"Mom! Get out of there, now!"

"Mom, get out of there!" I begged. "Mom!" She refused to budge, continuing to look at the three of us as though we were her paintings.

"I'm going after you!" I grabbed Diego's arm and yanked him back.

"No, Diego!" He tried to break away from me, but I only tightened my grip. "Diego!"

"Please, Mom!"

Tears welled in my eyes as she blew one final kiss down to the children she had spent so many years dedicating her life to. She knew exactly what was going to happen, yet she made no efforts to come and be with us. As sad as it was, I almost saw the positive in all of this. She had spent so many years submitting to Dad's will, watching as he abused us. Mom had watched her children suffer for long, and hadn't been able to do a damn thing about it. 

At least she could finally be free from all of this.

My brothers and I huddled together as the largest cracks finally formed in the place we had called home for so many years. Glass shards and concrete flew out before the building completely crumbled down, wiping away almost 30 years of neglect, abuse, card games, and peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. But the implications of the Academy falling were far greater and more grave than I liked.

Did this mean the apocalypse was still on? I didn't think that was possible, given that Five had come back and we were alive, but this all looked like what he had described. Something must have caused a branch in the timeline-- that's the best I could explain it-- and rerouted back to the end of the world. And I knew exactly what it was.

Once the dust settled, Diego immediately threw himself onto the rubble, trying to dig through and find Mom's body. Klaus and I glanced at each other a moment, unsure of whether we should let him have his moment or drag him away.

"Mom! Mom!" he shouted as he rifled through the masses of nothing. "Klaus, Mina, come here. Help me search." Gingerly, I reached out and placed a hand on my brother's shoulder, trying to bring him back from his slight hysteria.

"Diego," I whispered. "Just stop it. Stop."

"No. What-- what are you doing?" I managed to pull him up to his feet again. 

"Stop. Stop."

"Let me go. What are you doing?"

"She's gone. She's..." My voice broke a little, but I attempted to compose myself.

"What do you wanna do? You wanna-wanna w-w-w-walk away from this?" I drew in a shaky breath as we met eyes. For a second, he looked like he had when we were kids, just hoping someone would think he was good enough.

"No." I lowered my gaze and shook my head.

"What about Pogo?"

"Just--"

"He didn't make it."

My blood boiled as I turned around. Luther and Allison came up over the hill of destruction, shoulders slumped and gazes defeated. For a moment, my rage reached its peak, and I almost started screaming at him, until I finally registered what he said. Immediately, all that anger simmered down into regret and grief. And, at least they had made it out alive.

"What?"

"Vanya killed him." I slowly began to shake my head, refusing to believe Luther's words. Vanya couldn't, no matter what her powers were. She'd never been capable...

But all of this... it was her.

"But Vanya wouldn't--"

"No, I saw it," Luther interjected. "Just before we got out."

"Mom. Now Pogo." I choked down tears, not finding this the appropriate moment to shed them.

"Guys."

Some of the guilt and sadness momentarily lifted as Five came running over the destruction, holding some newspaper in his hands. His eyes lit up a little the moment he spotted me, and I quickly made my way over to him and crouched down, wrapping him in a tight hug. Despite the desperate situation, the rest of our siblings actually let us have our moment. They must have understood something else happened before I met back up with them.

Either that, or they were afraid of what Five would do if they tried to interrupt his time with his sister.

Once the moment passed, Five looked to everyone else, holding up the ashen and torn newspaper he had gripped in his hand.

"This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today," he declared, confirming my theory.

"I thought you said it was over," Luther argued.

"I was wrong, okay? This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed."

"No, that doesn't mean anything." I rolled my eyes at Diego. I certainly wasn't the brightest of the Hargreeves bunch, but at least I understood what Five was trying to get at. "The time could have been altered since the newspaper came out this morning."

"You're not listening to me," Five growled. I tapped him on the shoulder, trying to get him to bring it down and explain in a way that wouldn't end with everyone wanting to choke the life out of him. "When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The Moon's still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy."

"God, shut up about the Moon." Everyone looked to me with varying degrees of confusion. "Oh, sorry. Reflex." Luther shot me an unamused glance, but I chose to ignore it. We had more pressing matters at hand. Klaus made his way over and snatched the newspaper from Five's hands, reading the cover story with intense precision.

"I'm confused."

"Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse."

"We're all alive, which means there was a branch in the timeline, right?" Five nodded. "But ultimately, it all came back here, right in the same place we were when Five jumped forward." I paused for a moment, looking over all of my siblings' faces. "We have to find her."

Before anyone else could offer any suggestions, a bright spotlight shone down on us, and helicopters began to circle the building. We couldn't stay here, not without getting taken in to be questioned. We couldn't afford to waste any time with anything; a plan had to be conceived before Vanya could end the world.

"We gotta go, now!"

"Regroup at the Super Star!" Luther shouted. "Go!"

"Seriously?" I groaned.

"You have a better place?" For once, I was at a loss for words with him. "Then shut up and go."

I reached over and gripped my brother's hand, leading him over the rubble and around the side of the Academy. I had built up just enough electricity for him to get us through and to the brightly-lit bowling alley, beating the rest of our siblings there. We both tried to catch our breath as we leaned against the wall, waiting for everyone else. 

Once we had composed ourselves, I crouched down and pulled my brother in for another hug, this one much longer and tighter than the last one. The wave of emotions had crashed down completely on us, and the desperation mixed with the relief that I had survived. 

All of us were alive, and for the most part, well. We might actually be able to pull this off.


	27. Recon in Neon Lights

Pins clattered onto the wooden floors nearly exactly in time with the slam of bowling balls hitting the ground. A few laughs carried over the music drifting from the speakers, while a small group a few lanes over shouted congratulations and 'happy birthday's at a kid who looked to be no older than Five's corporeal age.

I straightened again as I finished adjusting the tightness of my shoelace, looking over the faces of all my siblings. The fact we'd had to pay for a lane was bullshit to me. We could have just sat in the food court area, ordered something and talked all this out, but no, the manager had to rob us in a time when we were already desperate. Five and I had gone a couple of times just to get some scores on the board, but the game had long been abandoned at this point. We had more important things to focus on, things that would keep this old bowling alley we all used to sneak out to standing.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare." I crossed my arms as I focused on Luther, for once ready to hear out whatever plan he'd been formulating in his mind this whole time.

"For what?"

"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya." My open mindset started to close off a little at his implications. No way in hell was I going to hurt my sister any more than we already were going to need to. Even then, there had to be a way to avoid harming her at all.

Thankfully, before I could chew him out, Allison slapped his chest with her pad of paper.

"We may not have a choice, Allison."

"Bullshit," I scoffed. "There's always options." While the rest of us focused on the plan, Klaus opened up the newspaper Five had brought with him and started to read it. 

End of the world and he finally decides to read. Between this and getting sober, I barely recognized the person he'd become. Not that it was a bad thing. 

"Yeah, like what?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked down at Five, almost daring him to keep contradicting me. However, despite my momentary confidence, I couldn't come up with something on the spot.

"I don't know." He smirked at me, causing me to kick his shin just hard enough to make him grab the affected area, but not enough to actually hurt him.

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya. And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."

"Or... here." Everyone looked to Klaus and stood up, crowding around him and leaning over the paper. "Look at this."

My eyes rested on the ad for her orchestra's concert, featuring her smiling face front and center. In all of the panic, I had completely forgotten that she was performing tonight. For a second, I felt guilty, but reality hit me again, and I remembered we had more pressing matters at hand than missing one concert. After all, if we didn't do something, this could be the last one.

"That's right. Her concert is tonight."

"Hello." Discomfort settled in my stomach as a slightly peeved worker approached us, forcing a smile onto her face. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave." I flinched a little as the manager at the desk slammed a pair of bowling shoes down on the counter.

"Whose turn it is?" I snickered a little at Diego, unsure how he could think we were taking this seriously enough to remember who was supposed to go.

"Oh for..."

Luther reached down and grabbed onto a pink bowling ball, then proceeded to chuck it over his shoulder. It bounced across a few lanes, perfectly jumping over the gutters, and knocked down all ten pins, all without him even looking. I met eyes with the worker that had approached us and smirked, causing her to roll her eyes and turn away. 

Allison tapped her pen against her pad of paper, drawing everyone's attention to what she had written.

'She's our sister,' she argued.

"We're the only ones capable of stopping this," Luther countered. "We have a responsibility to Dad."

"To Dad?" I shouted, shooting my eyes up to him. "No, I've heard enough about--"

"He sacrificed everything to bring us back together."

"I'm with Luther on this one." I rolled my eyes at my brother, though his position did surprise me. Given how close he and Vanya had been, I would have assumed Five would have wanted to try and save her at all costs. "We can't give her a chance to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We're past trying to save just one."

"Five, it’s Vanya.”

"Mina, if it's going to stop the world from ending, what other options do we have?" I threw my hands up a little.

"I refuse to lay my hands on her like that. I'm sorry, guys, but no way in hell am I going to do something like that to her." I felt my breath catching in my throat a little. "I just... I can't." 

"I know." Five's demeanor softened a little. "But you have to put past emotions aside for this Mina." The rest of our siblings' eyes went a little wide as I shook my head.

"Gee, thanks for that, Five." I quickly darted my eyes around to everyone else. "What? It was before Dad made us realize we were meant to be siblings. Let's just move on, please."

"Hey, you know, guys, uh... maybe I could help." I smiled a little at Klaus, thankful both for his diversion and his willingness to help with the plan.

"Now is not the time," Luther sighed.

"No, let him finish." Everyone looked a little shocked Diego was defending the brother he usually ridiculed. "He saved my life today." Klaus got up from his seat, appearing to be slightly drained.

"Is that true?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did... take credit for it. In fact, the real hero... was Ben," he admitted.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, but the looks on their faces weren't promising. It honestly surprised me a little that they weren't at least open to the possibility; he always talked as though Ben were there, and now, even though he had been sober for a couple of days, he still talked to the 'air' beside him. Why was it so impossible to believe?

"Today... Listen. Today, he punched me in the face. And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego's life, not me." I had to admit, that first part did sound a little nutty. 

"You are unbelievable Klaus," Luther scoffed.

"You want proof, is that it?" I tensed a little as he reached over and picked up a bowling ball. "All right, I-I'll give you proof." He turned the pink ball in his hands, blinking rapidly. "All right, it's show time, baby. Catch!"

I grabbed onto Five's shoulders and yanked him back as the ball flew through the air, just narrowly missing where his head had been. For a moment, I'd hoped that something would happen, and somehow, Ben would appear in front of our eyes, holding a pink bowling ball; but, instead, the ball just hit the ground, smacking the carpeting with a definitive _thunk_.

"Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?"

"You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid."

Luther's eyes widened in panic, and after taking a moment to register what had come out of his mouth, Klaus matched that. I drew my lips in a little bit, raising my eyebrows and looking to the ground, attempting to avoid the awkwardness of the moment. Allison crossed her arms, strangely glaring at Klaus rather than Luther. Wasn't Luther the one she would more likely be upset with? Whatever happened to 'don't shoot the messenger'?

"Which was a complete... It-It wasn't his fault, 'cause he was ridiculously high, right?" Somehow, Klaus managed to make this worse. "And-And the girl, she thought he was a furry..."

"Stop!" Luther barked.

"Sorry." 

I buried my face in my hands as I propped my elbows against my thighs, as though I somehow could hide from the secondhand embarrassment. Now certainly wasn't the time that I thought all our secrets would come spilling out, but I guess that's what happens when we're all put in a room-- or rather, a bowling alley-- together and have to come up with a plan. Inevitably, something's going to go horribly wrong.

Allison's eyebrows flew up as she grabbed onto her pad of paper and headed toward the glass doors, already trying to give up on this situation. Luther ran after her, splitting up our ranks again. We needed to get to Vanya and stop the end of the world, but instead, everyone was more focused on each other's love lives.

"Excuse me?" 

I looked up to see a red-haired, plump woman approaching us with an arm around the shoulders of a boy I presumed to be her son. My brow furrowed as I looked at her, recognizing her face for some reason. I had seen her before, long ago, but where? The memory felt distant.

"Excuse me? It's my son Kenny's birthday, and... Uh, wouldn't your son be happier playing with kids his own age?" For a moment, I blinked at her, confused. Did she think I was Five's mom? "Assuming it's okay with your two dads."

I couldn't help it. I snorted suddenly, covering my mouth with my hand as I tried to hold back my laughter. Diego and Klaus looked to each other with wide eyes before shaking their heads, while Five narrowed his eyes at the woman and her son.

"I would rather chew off my own foot," he spat. The woman's face immediately soured, and she grabbed onto her son again, quickly ushering him away. I was too busy staring at Diego and Klaus and trying not to absolutely lose my shit to notice when Five got up at first.

"If I was going to date a man, you'd be the last one I'd date," Diego asserted. 

My eyes wandered to my brother, his body blocking something in his hands that had captured his full attention. Curious, I stood and made my way over, crossing my arms as I stood next to Five. It took him a moment, but when he noticed me, he moved aside a little, revealing a golden tube in his hands.

"You'd be lucky to get me," I heard Klaus shoot back.

"How the hell did she find me?" Five muttered.

"What exactly is it?" I pointed to the tube.

"This is how The Commission would send us any new and necessary information while we were out on assignment: updates, cancellations, new terms, new missions... I just don't understand how they found where I am."

His eyes got distant for a moment, then he jammed one of his hands into his pocket, removing several wrapped candies. He suddenly placed the tube into my hands and pulled open the wrappers, revealing a smaller, silver cylinder with one end that started blinking green. 

"She's good."

"Have they been _tracking_ you?" I tried to keep my voice low, but the fact The Commission had been following us this whole time made my stomach churn. Thankfully, he threw the device on the ground and crushed it with his shoe. Better late than never, I suppose.

I raised an eyebrow as he turned the tube over. A window on the side of it revealed a fortune cookie, rattling around inside.

"Is this the normal method of message delivery?" I chuckled.

"Of course not." Five cracked the dessert opened and placed the two halves in my hand. "Here."

"Uh, thanks?" He unfurled the message inside, printed with precision on the small sheet. Even the handwriting beneath the pre-determined, false mantra marched neatly against the white paper.

'Time marches on... or does it? Rain Quail, Rm. 12.'

I sighed as Five looked up at me, his eyes slightly apologetic. I sighed and reached forward, pulling my brother into a hug.

"I have to go, I'm sorry. Whatever she wants... maybe she's willing to help stop the apocalypse." He sighed. "Not likely, but there's always that chance." His eyes shifted back to Diego and Klaus, still discussing the fact that woman had thought they were a couple. "Keep the rest of them in check, get them to come up with a plan."

"I'll try my best." I placed a hand on his shoulder and stuck up an authoritative finger. "Don't get shot again."

"I'll try my best."

I sighed as he jumped, and after a moment of staring at the nothingness, I headed back over to our lane and slumped down in a chair. Diego and Klaus glanced at each other, sharing a silent conversation before Klaus made his way over and sat next to me.

"Talk through what's on your mind." I smiled a little at Klaus and reached over, squeezing his arm.

"I know we have Five here this time, and we survived the Academy falling but... I'm still worried this is all going to turn out the same way it did when Five jumped. 'The apocalypse is still on', that's what he told us, yet here we are, all split up and brooding about our own problems. We're right back where we started, like always."

"It can't be _that_ bad." I noticed Diego roll his eyes a little as he spoke. "All of us are here this time, we have a shot. You've said it yourself."

"Do you see Allison? Or Five? Not to mention Klaus made a complete fool of himself and now everyone's pissed at him." I quickly snapped my gaze to the brother seated beside me. "No offense."

"No, you're right," he sighed.

"Some team we are. We couldn't even get our shit together when it was just a simple robbery. We definitely weren't equipped to handle the end of the world."

My brothers and I fell silent, lost in our own bitter thoughts. We'd been given all this hope, like we maybe stood a chance in all this, only for it all to fall apart in the 11th hour. We'd really need to pull something out of our asses if we wanted to keep everything from going up in flames, but in order for that to work, Luther would need to be a leader... for once.

"Hey, you should call your dance friends," Klaus piped up. "Just... tell them to get out there. Or if you want to tell them the world is ending, that's cool, too." I laughed a little, looking to my clasped hands, and shook my head.

"Yeah, that... that'd be a good idea. You know, if any of us were actually friends."

"Jesus, Mina," Diego scoffed. "That's some of the edgiest bullshit I've ever heard come out of your mouth."

"I’m serious!" I insisted. "We all just see each other as competition. Sure, we'll engage in formalities, and I wouldn't have known Dad died if it weren't for them getting my attention, but no one actually takes the time to get to know each other beyond the surface."

Diego let out a 'hmph' sort of noise, then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. His face wore that smug expression, the one he bore so proudly whenever he thought he was right, or when he'd bested one of us in our own games.

"What?" I snapped, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I just thought you were better than that. I mean, when we were kids, no matter how much all of us fought, at least we had you or Vanya to get everyone to make up." I felt annoyance switch over into a strong sense of betrayal. He, of all people, should understand what it feels like to see the people you're surrounded by as nothing more than inhibitors.

"Yeah, well, times change."


	28. Birthday Cake Projectile

I straightened a little as Allison and Luther entered the building again. I could see shimmering tracks running down Allison's cheeks, though she attempted to wipe them away hastily, and Luther had a sort of sullen hunch to his massive shoulders. Although they seemed to be on better terms than when they left, but none of us really were in the right head space at the moment.

"All right, where's Five?" Luther pointed to the empty seat next to me, almost appearing accusatory.

"He left," I stated bluntly. 

"Oh, for the love of... Where'd he go?" I raised an eyebrow at my brother, silently challenging him to keep pushing me. I wasn't in the place to deal with Luther's shit, and the fact he was talking to me as though it was my fault he had left only furthered my annoyance.

"He had something to take care of," I snapped, attempting to drop the matter. "The Commission beckoned, he went. He'll be back soon."

"Well, we're not waiting around for him. The concert starts in 30 minutes." I crossed my arms and stood, taking steps closer to him. Despite the staggering height difference, Luther flinched a little bit at my approach.

"Luther, we might need him. I mean, I think we all understand at this point that Five could be the difference between saving the world and living, and saving the world while dying." Despite my insistence, Luther wouldn't budge, forcing me to sigh and relent. "Fine. So what's the plan, huh?" 

"Well, I think that, uh..." My confidence began to waver as Luther stumbled over his thoughts and words, attempting to form a plan on the spot. "We go to the Icarus Theater." I scoffed at my brother's proposal.

"That's a location, not a plan." He raised his eyebrow at me, as though he didn't understand what was wrong with that. "What? Is that all you got?"

What exactly had Dad seen in him that made him think Luther was leader material? In the grand scheme of things, he did so little, yet he had always been the one we had to take orders from. I had been forced to listen to him and pretend I didn't have a plan that could have worked better floating around in my head. We were stuck with him always thinking we should listen to him, but he needed to get his shit together if we were going to take him seriously.

"Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you're gonna have to get us on the same page because right now, we're all over the place." Luther's eyes flickered downward for a moment, before he glanced back at my face, almost appearing apologetic.

"You're right." I shifted back a little, shocked. Did he just... agree with me? "We need a plan."

Just as I started to mull things over in my head, I caught strange movement out of the corner of my eye. My gaze flickered over just seconds before strange men in red masks and bulletproof equipment crouched down and opened fire in our direction. I immediately reached for Klaus' arm and yanked him down beside me, crouching down under the cover of the ball rack. Glass shattered into little pieces and candies spilled down onto the ground as stray bullets ricocheted off of tables and ball returns.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Luther shouted, looking to me specifically. Deep down, I think we all knew they were related to The Commission in some way.

"Maybe they're here for Kenny's birthday!" Klaus suggested, cupping his hands over his ears.

"To _attend_ Kenny's birthday, or to _end_ Kenny's birthday?" It was a stupid question, and I knew that, but when it came to Klaus, I always needed clarification for what came out of his mouth. I reached out and squeezed his arm a little, the reality of why he suddenly shrunk down and started to tremble a little suddenly dawning on me. "No, I'm pretty sure they're here for us!"

We all pressed our bodies further under the counters as the bullets got closer to hitting us. Diego shot up for a split second and chucked one of his knives out, and I heard the blade strike through the protective gear of the assassins. As the body fell back, they managed to hit the stereo system, knocking out the regular lights and suddenly sending music blasting over the speakers. I furrowed my brow for a moment, recognizing the complete ridiculousness of the situation, before I forced myself to focus back on the fight. I could try and take one of these guys down, sure, but there was no way in hell I'd be able to get close enough without ending up littered with bullet holes. None of the others paused for even a millisecond, leaving us with no room to just jump in and start attacking. Not to mention that Allison and Klaus really were in no condition to fight right now. It was down to Luther, Diego, and I, and in all honesty, I didn't really like those odds. But we had to work with what we've got.

Luther reached over and managed to get just enough of a window to chuck a couple bowling balls at two of the lackeys, knocking them onto the ground. That wouldn't render them completely useless, but they wouldn't be able to get up for a couple of minutes, which might give us some extra time.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get my brothers' attention. They both managed to spare a glance at me before ducking further down again. "If you two can cover for a couple of minutes, I might be able to get enough of a charge to take a few of them out."

"Mina, they'll shoot you before you can even turn once."

Luther was right, as much as I always hated to admit that. I couldn't charge out in the field, there'd be no point. I'd have to go somewhere else, otherwise this all would be for nothing.

My eyes briefly flicked over to the bathroom doors, bright white and slightly glowing against the neon lights. It was demeaning, sure, and definitely not an ideal space of operation, but it would have to do. I could hide out in there just long enough to build up a charge, and then really, I wouldn't have to get too close to take some of the armed men out. 

"Cover me," I ordered, shifting my legs to stand. "I'll be right back."

For a second, there was a window between the waves of bullets as the men reloaded their guns. I forced myself up, and used the sudden rush of adrenaline to sprint into the bathroom and shut the door. It swung a few times, and from outside, I could hear Diego shout, “Now’s not the time for a bathroom break, sis!”

I grimaced at the overwhelming stench that flooded my nostrils, then shook my head and took a preparatory position. The lack of space around me proved to be a bit of an issue, so rather than my regular fouettes, I had to settle for simple pirouettes that briefly touched on the ground. I could turn about three times before I had to set my foot down again, but despite the slower process, I managed to build up a pretty powerful charge. The sounds of gunfire came back to me just as I placed my hand on the door, and the second I swung it open, I shot my hand out in the masked men’s direction. Blue bolts of lightning came down, striking three of the men. They seized in place, shaking and trembling before they collapsed to the ground. The smell of burning flesh replaced that of the bathroom stench, but strangely, I preferred the former to the latter.

“Nice shot!” Diego cheered, his tune now changed once he realized what I had gone to do.

I darted across the room and crouched down just as Klaus reached up onto the counter, slowly sliding the brightly-frosted birthday cake from the counted into his hands, He adjusted his grip on the thing, but just before he used it, I reached over and swiped a big thing of frosting from the top and ate it. Klaus blinked at me for a moment, incredulous, and I shrugged.

“It’s about to go to waste. I wanted at least _someone_ to eat it.”

Shaking his head, my brother popped up for a moment and launched the cake at one of the men, causing them to stumble from shock. My eyes wandered back to the doors, noticing that despite the flocks of lackeys we had taken out, there still were men standing in front of the doors.

“They’re blocking the exit!” I shouted to the rest of my siblings.

“So, what’s the plan now, Luther?”

Allison tapped my arm to get my attention, then pointed toward the bowling lanes. I hesitated for a moment, realizing we were going to be completely exposing ourselves to the line of fire, but at this point, if we wanted to get to that concert in time to stop Vanya, it was the only option we had left.

“The lanes! Let’s go!”

Each of us took to our own lane, sprinting as fast as we could to avoid being hit. Thankfully, we managed to run just a little faster than the line of bullets, and once we reached the end of the lane, all of us darted off to the left, making a mad dash for the exit over there.

Well, that is, everyone except for Klaus, who, in his typical fashion, decided he had time to try and slide through the lane. He lunged forward, belly-flopping onto the wood and gliding along on his stomach. Remarkably, he knocked down all ten pins, but then struggled to get back up. Sighing, I rushed over to my brother and yanked him up, dragging him along behind me as we made it to the stairs and out the door. 

Any one of us would have loved the opportunity to stop and catch our breath, but those guys had seen where we went, and it was only a matter of time before they would pack up their shit and come follow us. We just had to make it into the theater, and then we’d be safe for at least a few minutes. We didn’t have time to stop and formulate a plan until then.

The bright lights of the Icarus Theater almost served as a beacon of hope, reminding us we were one step closer to maybe being able to prevent all of this. Thankfully, the doors had been left unlocked, allowing us to get upstairs to the right venue without much issue. You’d think, in the modern day, they’d have a hell of a lot more security in a place like this, but maybe they figured no one would want to try anything at an orchestra concert. After all, the audience was likely just made up of elders and rich, snobby men and women within our age group. This wasn’t some high school orchestra, and the tickets certainly weren’t cheap. I almost felt bad ours weren’t going to use, but saving the world from an impending apocalypse was more important.

Just before we could rush through the doors, Allison stepped in front of all of us, holding up her legal pad for all of us to read.

‘I need to go alone.’ I gawked at her statement a little. At the very least, I should be allowed to go in there as well. Vanya would know that I was just there to make peace and help her, even if she wasn’t completely herself.

“Wha—Allison, I can’t let you do that, all right? She’s beyond reasoning,” Luther tried to argue.

“You hear the music? It’s started,” Diego hissed.

“Do you honestly think she’s gonna listen? After everything that’s happened?” No one answered, and my eyes drifted to the ground for a moment.

“We don’t have time for this,” Klaus scoffed.

Suddenly, I looked up and rushed to my sister’s side, squeezing her arm. She glanced at me with slight shock, unsure of how to approach me offering her a supportive gesture.

“I do.” I glared up at Luther, not daring to back down now. “She’s still Vanya. Besides, if any one of us can talk her off the ledge, it’s going to be Allison—even if she can’t actually talk. She hasn’t seen her yet, I’m sure knowing she’s alive and able to walk around will be enough.” My brows furrowed as a new thought entered my mind. “You’ve got to start believing in the rest of us, Luther. We know what we’re doing, and we know what we are and aren’t capable of. We don’t need you to tell us.”

His hardened expression changed a few times as he went through the stages of processing what I said, before he finally relented and backed up a bit.

“Okay.”

Allison offered me a small nod as I released her arm, then she turned and headed into the theater. The music swelled as the door opened, then muffled again once it slammed shut. There was a part of me that wanted to see those people’s reactions when a woman dressed completely in leather with a bandage around her neck walked through the aisles, but I knew I needed to let her do this.

“You’re using her as a distraction, aren’t you?”

“Our best chance is to incapacitate Vanya.” My blood began to boil at Luther’s words. Of course my pleas had fallen on deaf ears. I don’t know why I thought I could have actually made an impact. “She’ll thank us later.”

Neither Luther nor Diego spared a glance toward me for even a moment. There was part of me that wanted to stay here, protest their terrible idea and prove a point. But now wasn’t the time for stubbornness, and if they didn’t have all the help they could get, it would be pretty likely they wouldn’t make it out of this at all. As much as I hated the idea, I needed to follow them and charge up.

“So, what’s the plan?” Klaus asked as all of us headed up the last flight of stairs that led to the theater.

“Uh, you wait out front,” Luther ordered. I stopped in my tracks and stared at him in disbelief.

“What?” Klaus and I both whined at the same time.

“Yeah, you’re the lookout.”

“Luther, you’ve got to be joking.” He wouldn’t even acknowledge me at this point. I shifted my eyes back to Klaus, furrowing my brows in an apologetic way. “I’m sorry.”

With guilt weighing down my heart, I followed my brothers up the stairs and tried my best to do some turns as I did, charging myself up. I’d have more time and space in front of the doors, but I needed to at least get a head start. I hesitated as Luther and Diego headed for the stage doors, but at this point, they’d elected to just ignore that I even existed. I tried my best to ignore the sadness that now set itself next to the guilt of leaving Klaus behind and start charging up for when things went wrong. I was used to Luther brushing aside my presence, but coming from Diego, it stung.

I touched my foot down and pushed through the crowd as they began to run out, screaming and pushing each other to be the first to get out the doors. After rolling my eyes at my brothers, I gave one last shove, and burst through into the nearly empty theater. Vanya stood on the stage, using what looked like a shockwave to force the rest of the orchestra to sit back down. The music had changed from a somber, slow tune to one of urgency, indicating we’d just started something we might not be able to finish.


	29. Apocalypse Suite

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Luther and Diego, scrambling to get to a safe place. Vanya’s body began to take on an eerie, white glow, almost as though she were building up energy the longer she played. I tried my best to push through the last of the people, attempting to get a little closer to Allison, when Vanya suddenly swung her bow out, causing another wave of energy to fly out. All of us ducked down just in time, barely missing getting our heads cut off by whatever that was. The glow she had taken on faded away, as though she’s lost the charge she’d been building up. It almost reminded me of how my lightning worked, but something told me if she hit me, I’d get discharged. Fingers of lightning still danced down my arms just waiting to be released from their confines. But now wasn’t the time.

I crouched down behind some seats, directly across from Allison and only a few rows away from Diego and Luther. I could hear their mumblings, despite how much the orchestra’s music now swelled.

“She’s stronger than expected,” Diego gasped out between breaths.

“Yeah.”

I stuck my hand out, using a little of my powers to give Luther and Diego tiny shocks. They cried out and glared at me, as though I’d hurt them far more than I actually did. Their eyes met mine, and both of them shrugged their shoulders, as though they hadn’t done anything wrong. I looked to Allison, who rolled her eyes as well, and the two boys’ jaws fell a little.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Thanks for asking.”

“You two are the biggest idiots I’ve ever known,” I hissed. “Did you really think running at her wouldn’t piss her off? That’s probably the worst plan any of us have ever had.” Rather than addressing me, Luther looked to Allison.

“Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn’t about to lose you again.”

“Luther, that’s touching and all, but _now is not the time_!” I shook my head, lowering it down slightly to look at my hands.

“Well, so much for the element of surprise,” Diego sighed. “What else you got?”

Thankfully, I still had enough of a charge to maybe surprise her and at least stun her for a few seconds, if she didn’t figure out what I was trying to do beforehand. But that really wouldn’t do us much good, she’d likely get up and just start trying to attack us again.

The white glow that encapsulated her had grown stronger the longer we’d allowed her to play her violin. It was almost as though...

It dawned on me just as Allison made a gesture like she was playing the violin. We were both, for once, completely on the same page.

“Yeah, no shit, Allison. Tell us something we don’t already know,” Diego deadpanned.

“She’s talking about the violin,” I explained as everyone turned to look up at Vanya. “It’s her lightning rod. If we can take it from her and stop her from playing, we might have a shot.”

My hands flew over my head as a flurry of bullets suddenly came flying toward us, creating a cacophony among the otherwise beautiful music. Those guys in the masks had caught up to us, and from the looks of the way they were firing, they had absolutely no intention of trying to stop Vanya. Thankfully, she didn’t try to stop the rest of her orchestra from fleeing this time, meaning they would hopefully be allowed to get to safety.

“What the hell happened to Klaus? He was supposed to be on lookout!”

“Yeah, are you surprised?”

“This is what happens when you give him a job a child could do,” I scolded. “Of all our siblings, you underestimate him the most. Of course he’s not going to pay attention, he’s hurt!”

Before I could yell at my brothers any more, there was a bright flash of blue light, and Five appeared in the aisle in front of me. I breathed a large sigh of relief, thankful to see my brother wasn’t hurt.

“What’s with all the lollygagging?” he asked casually, making his way closer.

I popped up just for a second and grabbed onto his shoulders, yanking him down to hide behind the seats with me as a new wave of bullets started to fire. We both simply nodded at each other, acknowledging that there was no time to get caught up in my usual line of questioning to make sure he was all right. He had come back from his meeting with The Handler, and that’s all that mattered to me right now.

“Five, what the… I thought you bailed on us!” I sighed. I’d already explained this to Luther, but I guess he didn’t want to believe me the first time.

“I had an errand to run.”

“Did you get her?” Five shot me an unamused look, and I shook my head, looking back toward Vanya. “Right, not the time.”

“This is not good,” he muttered, looking around at the men in the masks.

“You know these guys?” I demanded, though at this point, it really didn’t surprise me.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, good. I’m glad you’ve got some _decent_ work friends.” I saw Five smirk at my annoyance for just a second, before focusing back on the more pressing issues. Diego threw two of his knives at the masked men who burst through the door at that moment, while I used what was left of my charge to take out one more.

“Guys, it’s Cha-Cha!” Klaus shouted as he used the railing to propel himself around the corner.

I could see what looked like rice on the corner of his mouth, and rolled my eyes. He’d stopped at that burrito truck across from the theater when he was supposed to be out lookout. I wanted to badly to defend him, but he made it so hard sometimes. Still, at the end of the day, he was my brother and I loved him to death. I just didn’t want that death to come sooner than it had to, not if we could prevent it.

“It’s Cha-Cha, she—“

“Klaus, get down!” I warned. He threw his hands up over his head as one of the men fired at him before crouching down in another row. That really wouldn’t help us against the men that were up high, but at least it provided some cover from the bullets.

Five suddenly jumped out from beside me, appearing on one of the necks of the masked men. He clung tight and started to choke the man, causing him to turn in circles and fire his gun out in all directions. I couldn’t just sit here while my little brother remained vulnerable, so I got up myself and tried my best to avoid the gunfire as I turned down the aisle. The man Five choked managed to hit two others, clearing the way for me to build up a charge that could take out a significant number. Once I’d reached the very end of the carpeting, I stuck my hand straight in the air, aiming for the men that were all the way up in the balconies. I managed to hit three of them, but it wasn’t enough. There were still too many of them too high up for us to reach, and in all honesty, I was starting to get dizzy from all this spinning and running I had been doing today.

Just as I started to catch my breath, another blue glow emanated from behind me. I whipped around just in time to see Klaus’ fists become overwhelmed by a strange light, and as his arms extended out, a ghostly-looking Ben appeared. My jaw dropped as tears welled in my eyes, overwhelmed by seeing him for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Everyone watched in awe as the tentacles emerged from his chest and actually grabbed onto the masked men, throwing the remaining few from their places. As the distractions lessened, the chances of us actually being able to pull this off grew. However, we’d need to act fast. We were racing against Vanya’s clock, and it was likely only a matter of minutes before she blew.

Diego suddenly shot up and charged toward the stage, screaming with rage. I managed to steal a glance in that direction for just a moment, and spotted the bloodied, cut-up figure of Cha-Cha standing on the stage, looming over us as though she were a god. Barely a second later, Diego got the jump on her and slammed her body against the back wall before dragging her back stage.

I guess he was going to deal with that.

“Oh, my god,” I heard Luther mutter.

“It’s him,” I gasped out. “It’s Ben.” I paused for a moment, thinking over what I just said. “Wait, I already knew he was there.”

“You what?” I smirked down at Five. I had to admit, there was something almost thrilling about knowing more than my brother-- the one who seemed to think he was smarter than all of us.

“Yeah. Who did you think Klaus was talking to all this time?”

“I honestly just thought he was high off his ass.” I shrugged.

“Makes sense.”

With the last of the guys taken care of, Ben's tentacles retracted back into his chest, and just like that, the image of him faded away. The glow left Klaus’ fists, and although he looked a little weaker than a few moments ago, overall, he seemed unharmed. Instead, a big, giddy smile stretched onto his face at the realization of what he had just done.

“Now who’s the lookout?” he shouted, laughing. Everyone was too busy trying to collect themselves after that display to respond, so Klaus just waved his hand, dismissing the question altogether.

I turned my attention back to the stage, and my eyes widened. Vanya had become completely engulfed in what looked like a wave of energy, and with nowhere for the large amounts she was generating to go, her suit and violin began to turn white, as though by some sort of magic. I had to admit, if this didn’t mean we had to get our shit together and come up with a plan _right this second_ , I’d think this was pretty cool.

I flinched and moved to cover Five as the ceiling began to crumble around us, dropping large piles of dust down—just like back at the Academy. Cracks slithered down columns, causing them to shake and threaten to tumble down at any second. Thankfully, at that moment, Diego wandered back to us, limping slightly.

“Oh, welcome back,” Luther deadpanned. “Where were you?”

“Honoring a memory.” Five and I exchanged a quick glance, remembering where those exact words had come from.

All of us moved closer to each other, huddling together. I reached over and squeezed Five’s shoulder while Klaus wrapped an arm around mine. So what if it took the potential end of the world to bring us all together? I’d never seen any of us be this close to each other without someone threatening someone else since we were little.

Actually, scratch that. The end of the world is not a ‘so what’ moment, even when said moment is meant to be touching.

“So, how do you want to end this thing?”

“We surround her, all right? We come at her from all angles.” My eyes widened as I registered just what Luther was asking us to do.

“So it’s a suicide mission?” I tried to keep my voice steady as I spoke.

“Yeah, but one of us could get through,” Five tried to reassure me. “It’s the only chance we’ve got.”

I really didn’t want to give in, but Five had a point. What other choice did I have?

“Well, this has certainly been an eventful family reunion.” Everyone got a little chuckle out of what I said, and strangely enough, it brought me some form of confidence.

“Are we all in?”

“Yeah,” everyone agreed. I reached over and pulled my younger brother against my side for what could possibly be the last time, and he returned the gesture to the best of his ability, really only reaching my waist due to the height difference. With slight reluctance, I took my position.


	30. Inevitable End

I never thought I’d be able to say that I’ve felt my life being drained away. Then again, I never thought I’d be able to say I can control lightning, either. Nothing about my life had been normal, not by any sort of means. I’d never been able to use the same mile-markers as every other kid out there, so all of us resorted to our own. We would secretly celebrate late at night in the kitchen when one of us finally mastered our powers; we’d snuck out to get donuts for the first time after our first mission at that bank; we all had silently raised a glass, within isolation, when the first one of us had the guts to walk out of the Academy and never look back.

I’d never appreciated any of it, not even for a second. I always looked back at my adolescence with nothing but disdain. I’m not sure anyone loved growing up all the time, but I had truly and thoroughly despised the way I had been raised. My father never cared for us, not for one second, and it left each of us with uniquely shaped scars. We’d never fully learned how to adjust and be normal, and we’d never learned how to deal. The only times we all could say that we were genuinely happy was when we were all together, whether we’d actually admit it or not.

For a moment, I didn’t feel bad for Vanya. She’d been raised in the same household, with the same situations the rest of us had. She wasn’t any different from the rest of us, so what gave her the right to throw a tantrum like this and be excused for it, rather than punished? Why did the rest of us suffer nights without food, time without our other siblings, or the entrapment of our own mental prisons we’d built for ourselves, while Vanya was given an instrument through which she could channel everything instead?

But her upbringing hadn’t been the same as our other siblings. None of us had it hammered into our heads that there was nothing special about us. Technically speaking, the seven of us that trained together had nothing special about us, either. We were surrounded by other kids that had powers, so we couldn’t really stand out. Vanya, however, had always been told she was _ordinary_. That dreaded word struck so much disdain into anyone who had the misfortune of adapting the label. She’d been excluded, pushed aside, name-called, and glared at more times in her life than any one child should have, yet she still managed to pick herself up, walk out the doors, find someone to talk things out with, and start more of a normal life than any of the rest of us.

The others could make their arguments otherwise, but Vanya was the strongest out of all of us.

Of course, when it comes to powers and this situation, that certainly was a disadvantage.

I leaned against the wall, sparing another glance at Five, silently trying to warn him that if he died, I’d kill him. He seemed to pick up on what I was saying and shot me an unamused glare in return. Normally, I would have marched over there and started to scold him, but there wasn’t time for that right now. Besides, if this was the last time I’d ever see my brother, I didn’t want my last words with him to be angry. So I softened my expression a little bit, which caused a tiny smile to light up his face.

I waited patiently for Luther’s cue, my eyes bouncing between him, Five, and Vanya now. The waves of energy around her grew stronger and bigger, pulsating more intensely as time went on. The longer we waited, the less time we had to pull this off, and Luther should have known that. Why he was waiting so long was beyond me.

Thankfully, just a few seconds later, I saw him move a little, indicating to the rest of us that we needed to do the same.

“Now!” he shouted, bringing all of us out of our hiding places.

Klaus, Diego, Five, Luther, and I all rushed onto the stage, hoping she’d get distracted by those of us in the front, so that the others could maybe get a shot through. Like Five said, only one of us needed to get to her while she was occupied with the others, and we could pull this off.

Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Instead, without even a second of hesitation, Vanya swung her bow out, capturing all of us in a wave of energy that lifted the five of us off the ground. I cried out as a terrible pain shot through my chest, unlike any of the episodes I’d had before. Next to this, all those times I pushed myself to the brink of death felt like nothing.

The energy attached to my chest, feeling as though something had been stabbed through it, and someone was taunting me by suspending me. The sensation started in my fingers and toes, just like any other time I had started to lose consciousness, but this was far greater. It felt as though something with sharp teeth was slowly eating away at them, biting off little pieces in hopes to make me suffer for as long as possible. After a bit, the feeling began to pick up speed, until my entire body felt as though the flesh should have been falling away. To my mind, it seemed as though I were getting older within a matter of seconds, with those middle years all completely glossed over. I could feel something within me moving outwards into the beam of energy, as though it were being sucked out by a vacuum.

For a moment, I mustered up enough strength to spare a glance at my brothers, but just as soon as I had done it, I regretted my decision. Their skin was withering away, wrinkling and tightening against their skulls to the point where I could just see the outline. I’m sure I looked no better, but that didn’t stop the horror of my brothers’ conditions from setting in.

I managed to turn my head back toward Vanya, my eyes threatening to close and all the will I had to fight this officially leaving my body. Somehow, I noticed Allison standing just behind her, a gun raised and pointed straight at the back of Vanya’s head. Where she’d gotten that, I had no idea, but right now, that didn’t matter. I only had a tiny sliver of my mind left with me, but I used all the energy I had to hope Allison would do the right thing here. I didn’t want Vanya to get hurt, not in a million years, but we were dangerously close to the end of the world at this point, and if she didn’t pull that trigger in just the right way, it would all be over.

In a split second, Allison moved the gun from behind Vanya’s head to right beside her ear. She’d stopped playing her violin the moment she caught the five of us, so thankfully that would make all of this a little easier. Careful with where she aimed the bullet, Allison pulled the trigger, causing a loud bang to go off that disrupted the sounds around Vanya and broke her free from her trance. My brothers and I were dropped onto the stage, unable to move at first, and Vanya fell back as Allison reached out for her, gently lowering her to the ground. A large beam shot out from her chest and into the night sky, but the world was still turning.

Once I got my strength back and managed to breathe normally, I picked myself up off the wooden ground and rushed to Five’s side, helping him off the ground before pulling him into a tight hug. I felt the impact of Klaus slamming himself against my back and sighed, content with the small moment we were having.

“Are you okay?” I asked Five, resting my hands on his shoulders and squeezing.

“I’m fine. Just a little… disoriented.”

With that taken care of, all of us rushed to Vanya and Allison, eyes wide as we searched the former for any signs of life. If her chest was moving with breaths, they were too small to see, and I didn’t dare get too close, out of fear we would ignite something just after stopping one problem.

“Is she alive?” Luther whispered, barely able to find his voice after what just happened. After a few seconds, Allison nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. “Yeah?”

“Oh, thank God,” I muttered before pushing myself back up. My eyes wandered around the theater, taking in all the damage that had been done. Nothing had fallen down, but there definitely would need to be a lot of repairs. Shards of broken glass were scattered across the ground, having rained down from the skylight when Allison re-directed Vanya’s shot.

The moment my eyes went a little more upward, my heart stopped. The moon that had once stood shining above the Earth was now crumbling to pieces, the large chunks that came off it now hurtling toward us. They weren’t just small pieces that would cause a little boom in some remote part of the world, either. They were large, big enough to take out an entire continent.

Big enough to end the world.

“Uh, guys? You see that big moon rock hurtling toward us?” My brothers stood and made their way to my side, gawking up at the sky.

“That’s not good…”

The relief and victory I had felt just moments before drained away, replaced with horror and disappointment. We thought we had done it, only to be presented with the disappointing reality: the apocalypse was coming anyways, whether we liked it or not.

“So, this is it, huh? So much for…” Klaus sighed, “saving the world.” I reached over and squeezed his arm, trying to bring both of us some sort of comfort. Klaus reached up and placed his hand over mine, as though finding some sort of stability in the gesture. With his other hand, he removed the dog tags that hung around his neck and began to play with them. It hit me, what he was thinking, and I started to cry a little.

“If only Sir Reginald could see us right now, huh?” Diego scoffed. “The Umbrella Academy. A total failure.” My brow crinkled as I directed my gaze in his direction.

“Were we ever a success?” He shrugged a little, seeming to agree with my point.

“At least we’re together at the end,” Luther pointed out. “As a family.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I smiled up at him. For the first time in my life, I felt safe around him.

“This doesn’t have to be the end.” All of us turned to look at Five, confused.

“What?” I questioned, looking down at him. “What are you saying, Five?”

“I think I have a way outta here. But you gotta trust me on this.” I immediately started nodding, not even taking a second to hesitate.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Diego mumbled.

“No,” Luther added.

“Well, then, we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute, we’re gonna be vaporized.” 

“What’s your idea, then?” Diego demanded, clearly not expecting it to be something that would work.

“We use my ability to time travel. But this time, I’ll take you with me.”

“Can you do that?” I had to admit, I didn’t think he quite had enough strength to bring all seven of us.

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before.” Despite that, I knew we had to at least try. We weren’t the only ones at risk here, we were putting the entire world in danger if we didn’t attempt at fix this.

“What’s the worst that can happen?” I asked, looking around at my other three brothers.

“You’re looking at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child’s body, so there’s that.” I widened my eyes a little, as though begging the others to give in. After a moment, Diego threw up his hands a little, but I saw the smile on his face.

“Oh, what the hell? I’m in.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m in.”

“Me too.” We’d gotten Luther to give in. This really _was_ the end of the world. “Allison?” Everyone looked back at her, and she nodded. “What about Ben?”

“Great, yeah, he’s in.” I broke away from the rest of the group, moving to a place where I couldn’t hit any of them.

“There’s no way you’re gonna have enough power to take all eight of us through at once, kid. I’ll charge myself up, we’ve just gotta make sure we get the timing right.” Five nodded.

“Okay, great. Luther, grab Vanya.” I watched my siblings all crowd together as Luther scooped up Vanya, who remained unconscious.

“Wait, should we be taking her? I mean, if she’s the cause of the apocalypse. Isn’t that like taking the bomb with us?”

“The apocalypse will always happen. And Vanya will always be the cause, unless we can take her back and fix her,” Five explained.

With that, my brother and I nodded at each other, and I began to turn, making sure to go fast so I could get as many in as possible before we had to go back. I’d still ended up under the cover of the portal Five was creating, and the more I turned, the stranger I began to feel. The world suddenly got a lot bigger, as though I was shrinking, and at one point, as I turned, the hair that struck my face turned a dark red, rather than its natural brown. I tried to spot my siblings as I turned, to make sure I wouldn’t get dizzy, and I noticed they were going through the same thing. All of us looked just like we had when we were thirteen again.

“It’s working!” Luther shouted over the crackles of electricity coming from the portal.

“Hold on! It’s gonna get messy!” Five warned.

I turned a few more times, slipping again as my feet gave out under me. These shoes really weren’t meant for trying to dance.

“Mina! Now!”

I lunged forward and slammed my hands onto Five’s arm. Just as I did, I felt myself being sucked upwards, and I closed my eyes, not daring to try and look. Whenever I opened my eyes again, I knew what my first question would be:

_When are we?_

**_To Be Continued in “You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 2”_ **


	31. A Thank You/Future Timeline

Hello Firewhisperers, Readers, and Newcomers alike,

I really wanted to put a thank you at the end of this story, more than any others I still have running. Pardon my language, but this story blew the fuck up within a matter of hours, and the numbers have been on a steady climb ever since. The love this story has received has been overwhelming, and the lovely comments you all have left have been so phenomenal.

Writing this story, and Mina's struggle, has actually been really therapeutic for me. I didn't want to ever bring down the mood by saying this, but Mina's struggle with her body and what she suffered as a ballerina is unfortunately something I went through in my last couple of years at a ballet company. I knew almost immediately I wanted Mina to be a dancer whose powers were electricity based, and from there, all the little pieces fell into place. I'm so glad so many people liked how I addressed the issues, and how they created a close bond with Klaus. So thank you all so, so much for allowing me to get that part of my life off my chest. Mina's struggle with herself certainly isn't over, so I'm glad I'll get to explore the damage even further in books to come.

I don't know how long it will be until Volume 2, but I wanted to give you guys a rough timeline of how this works, just 'cause I think it's fun.

Day 1: the season comes out. This is when the watching begins

Day 5: first watch of the season is over (Umbrella Academy will take longer because my entire family loves it, so we all watch it together)

Day 7: second watch begins. The first stages of planning are implemented, where the episodes will be paused at certain points and potential dialogue and scenarios will be talked through

Day 9: second watch has ended. At this point, the general arc has been completely determined. The main points of the arc are written down in my notebook at this point

Day 10: third watch begins. This really is more of a fast forward, and each episode's main events, points, and changes are recorded. The names of the chapters are also decided at this point

Day 11: "breather day"-- this allows me to take a break from anything related to the plot. I usually do the character sketch and design the cover

Day 13: I circle back to what I have for the plot and change anything that I don't like/ think is dumb

Day 14: The writing begins. I start with the description and tags, and then move on to the first chapter. If I start in the morning, the chapter is published by mid-day, night at the latest. If I start later in the day, it likely won't come out until Day 15

So yeah! That's the general timeline of my writing for this story. Idk if this was actually interesting to anyone, but I just wanted to put this out here so you guys know when the next volume will likely come out. I'll see you all then!

All my love,

Firewhisperer13


	32. You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 2

Need I say more? Enjoy the first 4 chapters ;)

<https://archiveofourown.org/works/26011306/chapters/63244288>


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